New building projects across the country appear to be held up due to the slow issuing of Personal Public Service (PPS) numbers for construction workers. As such, this is extending timeframes for some projects . Minister of Social Protection, Heather Humphreys, has been contacted by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) to highlight the matter.
A PPS number is required by construction workers to complete a Safe Pass programme, which allows them to work on sites. One member had apparently complained to the CIF about a six-week wait for PPS numbers for workers, instead of a five-day average.
Director of safety and training at the CIF, Dermot Carey, commented that these delays could create challenges for meeting building deadlines.
“One of our key objectives is that we have enough skilled labour to meet all of the demands of our national programmes. We need to bring people in to fill gaps, and that needs to be a reasonably efficient process. Having delays of six to 10 weeks is not an efficient process. There are penalties for contractors who don’t meet their deadlines. Therefore, we need to have a system that allows for a reasonable pace for putting people through the system. That is all we ask.”
Carey said that Minister Humphreys had acknowledged delays, and that the Department would be working to put in place a mechanism to address the sitation.