The head of the Construction Industry Federation has rowed back on his claims that costs of major building projects could rise by 40%.
CIF Director General Tom Parlon made his initial comments at the Dail's COVID-19 committee earlier this week, where he was appearing to discuss the impact of the crisis on the construction sector.
He had said the additional costs would be incurred on projects such as the new National Children's Hospital due to the social distancing measures needed as sites reopened.
Mr Parlon told deputies: "The industry is building data centres, highly sophisticated pharmaceutical plants, IT plants and so on.
"The industry has suggested the extra cost to complete such projects while the very strict regime is in place could be as much as 40%."
However, Tom Parlon has today moved to clarify his remarks, suggesting he was talking about productivity rather than costs.
He said: "We're talking about the loss of productivity - the 40% would be an estimate of a potential loss of productivity.
"We're four days into having restarted work now, learning a lot from the experience - and those calculations will be finalised over the next number of weeks."
He suggested that there will be 'innovation within the industry' aimed at reducing any costs incurred by the need for social distancing.
