I Fear the construction workers...

[Wakeupcall]

I know people in the construction industry. I also know of people and come across people who were in the construction industry before.

If they have lost their jobs then they have no future plans, as I make it a point to ask when I have the opportunity. They are signing on and complaining that there is no work. Living and wasting every day.

A lot of these people seem to not yet understand that construction is dead for the foreseeable future. I have noticed that the ones I have come across are all waiting for their next construction job.

This scares me, how long will it take for them to realise that the next job is just not coming?

How can a new direction in life be drilled into these peoples heads? The quicker they realise this the quicker we can all move on.

These people need to find a new path in life, we need programmes that will find these peoples other skills! We need education campaigns for these people. We need to offer them an extra €50 or something on the dole in return for a working week in one of our public services such as city/town cleaning, county council (they could fix roads, build footpaths, infrastructure)

We NEED an infrastructure for the future, can we not use what these constructions workers are already good at? We can save on training, we can have a fantastic infrastructure if we put these people to good use.

I dont think they would mind working for their money and a little extra incentive to do so might also do the trick. Their minds are warping stuck up in a house all day.

if we dont do at least SOMETHING now they will just rot away in their houses, perhaps loose all ambition and then we have an even bigger problem....

[slx]

I agree with you, but there has also been a serious level of denial coming from Government too. They seem to still think that the construction sector will somehow magically pick up.

We can sustain a certain number of construction jobs, but the recent construction boom is a once in a hundred years type thing.

People need to move on and find new careers. The pittance that the Government set aside for training / retraining programmes in the budget shows just how seriously they're taking it.

If these people remain on the dole, it will cost us an absolute bloody fortune and it's a complete waste of their lives too. They would be much happier, healthier and we would all be a lot financially better off if the resources are made available, even if it means taking money from something else, to ensure that they're retrained and redeployed.

It's also not unreasonable to ask private industry, individuals and others to help out in this too. E.g. would teachers, and university/IT lecturers and other professionals / high-skilled individuals be willing to donate a few hours a week to run night classes?

I'm not talking a vast commitment, but maybe just donate 2 hours a week?

If the state doesn't have the resources, perhaps civil society will have to step in and fill the gap?

Fas also has to look at getting far better value for money for training programmes. They're still stuck in bloatonomics mode and chucking huge quantities of cash at relatively pointless programmes delivered at very high cost.

Would private sector companies be willing to perhaps offer internships or, on the job training. There are other areas which are not too high skilled which people could slot into even without all that much training.

We cannot just end up with a scrap-heap section of society like the North of England after the collapse of mining in the 1980s.

[HanleyS]

The builders need to be sat down and told that they are no longer builders, that they will never build again and to decide what they want to do with themselves. They will never be required in peak numbers again.

[blinding]

Lets build some nuclear power stations cheap with all these unemployed builders.

Ye know it makes sense.

[Finbarr From The Fort]

I find myself on the dole for the first time in my life.
I gave 13 years to the Construction Industry i loved the Job.
You get to know most the workers in each site over the years.
Your workmates are allways changing its like a comunity.
When you see this comunity on the dole q when you know well
they would prefer to be working is heartbraking .
We over produced residential ,retail, and comecial units to sick levels.
Alot of jobs that i and others worked on are empty.
You like to see the Hotel, shopping centre or housing development that youve worked hard on do well .
To see so many empty houses ,apartments,and shops that are brand new is destroying.
There just wont be enough work around for the vast majority of my former workmates for a lifetime .
A few weeks ago i attended two funerals of former work mates who comited suicide.
I hope i never have to go to another.

[adrem]

I know people in the construction industry. . . I also come across people who were in the construction industry before. If they have lost their jobs then they have no future plans . . . . They are signing on and complaining . . . Living and wasting every day. . . . these people . . . how can a new direction in life be drilled into these peoples heads . . . these people . . . . these peoples . . . offer them an extra €50 or something on the dole in return for a working week in one of our public services such as city/town cleaning, county council (they could fix roads, build footpaths, infrastructure) . . . put these people to good use.

I dont think they would mind working for their money and a little extra incentive to do so might also do the trick. Their minds are warping stuck up in a house all day.

Admittedly I've applied liberal use of the editing pen but only to make the point. I assume you didn't appear to come across as utterly sanctimonious and condescending as you did?

[Trans-Siberian]

I find myself on the dole for the first time in my life.
I gave 13 years to the Construction Industry i loved the Job.
You get to know most the workers in each site over the years.
Your workmates are allways changing its like a comunity.
When you see this comunity on the dole q when you know well
they would prefer to be working is heartbraking .
We over produced residential ,retail, and comecial units to sick levels.
Alot of jobs that i and others worked on are empty.
You like to see the Hotel, shopping centre or housing development that youve worked hard on do well .
To see so many empty houses ,apartments,and shops that are brand new is destroying.
There just wont be enough work around for the vast majority of my former workmates for a lifetime .
A few weeks ago i attended two funerals of former work mates who comited suicide.
I hope i never have to go to another.

Sorry to hear about your workmates. Just goes to show the human cost of the mismanagement of our economy by this government.

[inchicore_republican]

Was there anything in the budget about the Metro or The West of Ireland railway lines ?

[Wakeupcall]

Admittedly I've applied liberal use of the editing pen but only to make the point. I assume you didn't appear to come across as utterly sanctimonious and condescending as you did?

Not at all - I want to see an improvment of opportunities for these people.

[west'sawake]

I find myself on the dole for the first time in my life.
I gave 13 years to the Construction Industry i loved the Job.
You get to know most the workers in each site over the years.
Your workmates are allways changing its like a comunity.
When you see this comunity on the dole q when you know well
they would prefer to be working is heartbraking .
We over produced residential ,retail, and comecial units to sick levels.
Alot of jobs that i and others worked on are empty.
You like to see the Hotel, shopping centre or housing development that youve worked hard on do well .
To see so many empty houses ,apartments,and shops that are brand new is destroying.
There just wont be enough work around for the vast majority of my former workmates for a lifetime .
A few weeks ago i attended two funerals of former work mates who comited suicide.
I hope i never have to go to another.

Finbarr,

That brings us down to reality. You're a good man who for years has done an honest days work and yet who see's beyond his own suffering.

You survey the empty malls, commercial units, and houses, in sadness and fear, and see them as monuments to a lunacy that is bringing devastation to many families, the worst of it being the loss of mens' lives.

I hope and pray you get alternative employment soon, the employer who gets you will be lucky.