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An artist's impression of the Charlemont stop for MetroLink Department of Transport
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8,000 staff needed: Metrolink has been 'going around Europe for the last year' for workers
Some 8,000 workers are needed for Metrolink alone, but the NTA has warned of a ‘brain drain’ across the public sector affecting major works.
METROLINK OFFICIALS HAVE been “going around Europe for the last year” on the hunt for workers and engineers on the multibillion euro project.
Some 8,000 people are required to work on the 19-kilometre Dublin railway, which was described as a “humongous ask” for just one project during a construction summit in Croke Park, especially when there are a series of major works planned by the government.
The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) gathering held detailed discussions on MetroLink on Wednesday, with questions raised over whether the government can ensure its infrastructure plans become reality.
The chief executive of the National Transport Authority (NTA), which has oversight of MetroLink, cautioned that the project may encounter further constraints, as there are so many big infrastructure projects being undertaken in Ireland at the same time.
MetroLink’s first passengers are not expected until 2036 to 2038. The project took a step forward last week when the government signed off on the next stage, paving the way for private companies to bid for the construction and operation contracts of the railway.
The final cost is now expected to be as high as €17.5 billion, if not more when the final sums are counted.
Infrastructure plans meeting reality’s constraints
The CIF summit, entitled ‘Ready to deliver: Ireland’s decade of construction’, examined projects from transport to water to energy that the government wants to see developed and built over the coming five to 10 years.
NTA boss Anne Shaw told the CIF conference that the “floodgates will start to open” with infrastructure projects, which she said is a positive, but warned that “huge demand” will face the system’s capacity.
“You look across the whole of infrastructure, across Uisce Éireann, transport, energy: all of those projects start to come together at the same time, there’ll be huge demand for the supply chain,” Shaw said.
“And I think that there will be a capacity issue there at some point.
MetroLink, for example, 8,000 workers in the life of that project, coming in from bricklayers to heavy machine operators to tunnellers. 8,000 people. I can’t believe that there’s 8,000 people just hanging around waiting. And that’s just one project.
Recent reporting outlined that discussions are underway for new housing to accomodate 2,000 of these workers, with the homes to be used for the national housing stock after MetroLink is completed.
Shaw confirmed when appearing on a panel that transport authorities are in talks with the Land Development Agency, the state housing company, to come up with purpose-built housing for a chunk of the MetroLink workforce.
MetroLink goes to Europe
Interim MetroLink director Michael Flynn said the project will require an estimated 5% of the Irish construction workforce, as he urged Irish companies in the room to clear their schedules and prepare to tender for work with the company.
Recent reporting outlined that discussions are underway housing is going to be provided to house 2,000 of these workers, with the homes to be used for the national housing stock after MetroLink is completed.
Acknowledging that the project has already been a quarter of a century in the making, Flynn said that the project took a “massive step forward” last week when the government gave it the green light to begin issuing tenders to contractors.
Flynn said “physical work will be commencing in around next year”, but he explained that the project has long-faced challenges in terms of sourcing a skilled workforce for such large engineering works.
“Within Ireland there isn’t the capability to do the job the size of MetroLink, so last year we went around Europe to find workers,” Flynn said, adding that there had been a “fantastic” response from European civil engineering firms.
“They were impressed by us going out to seek them out rather than us waiting for them to come to us,” Flynn said.
John Daly, economist with the Midlands-North-West Regional Assembly, outlined potential risks that the major developments pose, including to regions outside the capital.
Citing data showing the current construction labour force stands at 190,000, Daly said it was a “humongous ask on the sector” to add another 100,000 people to that number.
“There may have to be more open conversations in terms of foreign nationals coming in,” Daly added, as a way to meet the need.
Shaw, of the NTA, admitted that an issue facing the NTA and major infrastructure projects has been a “brain drain” among its own personnel.
She said this was “starting to change” thanks to the “sharp increase of ambition” from the government’s infrastructure plans, but complained that it has been difficult to ensure complex projects have staff with the “right skillset”.
This was having the impact that, even though there is “confidence around the pipeline” of work starting to emerge, key works have been “taking longer because they haven’t got the capacity” at present.
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