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Irish Concrete Federation
GERRY FARRELL, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, IRISH CONCRETE FEDERATION It gives me great pleasure to contribute to the Mineral Products Association of Northern Ireland (MPANI) Journal 2022/23 which I know will once again be received with great interest within the mineral products industry throughout Ireland and beyond. As ever, I would like to pay tribute to the MPANI executive team, Regional Director Gordon Best and his colleague Fiona Taggart, for their immense efforts on behalf of their members over the past year and to express my thanks to them for their ongoing assistance for our organisation. the war is being felt by our members through the unprecedented increases in the cost of raw materials, energy and fuel. These cost increases have made the materials and products produced by our members more expensive and this unavoidable reality, combined with even more significant increases in imported materials such as steel and timber, is having a major impact on overall building costs.
I had the pleasure of presenting to MPANI members at its recent Annual General Meeting and we look forward to maintaining the mutually beneficial relationship between the Irish Concrete Federation (ICF) and MPANI in the future. The old adage ‘jumping from the frying pan into the fire’ springs to mind when trying to summarise the impact of recent global events on our personal and business lives. Hopefully, we are in a position to say that the worst impacts of the pandemic are finally behind us. While it seems there will be some level of caution required in respect of new variants, we are hopeful that there will be no return the days of ‘lockdowns’ and other public health restrictions. Nevertheless, any retrospective analysis of the impact of Covid on our sector will show that other sectors of the economy, particularly hospitality, were much more seriously impacted than ours. There are many reasons why this was the case.
However, the principal reason is the essential nature of this industry and the products it produces. This was exemplified by the fact that during times of severe economic and public health restrictions, our industry was required to continue to supply essential social infrastructural development throughout Ireland. Thankfully, this resulted in strong levels of activity among our member companies over the past two years. If I have a single criticism of our industry, it is that sometimes we underplay our essential role in society. If this is the case, we can hardly expect society to view this industry any differently. Our products are essential for modern society to function normally. Critical gaps in national infrastructure cannot be filled without our materials. Yet policy makers and decision makers
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Gerry Farrell.
rarely grasp these undeniable facts. Organisations such as ICF and MPANI have a critical role in promoting and advocating for official recognition of our industry’s essential role. This needs to be backed up by members ‘at ground level’ promoting the benefits that their operations bring to their communities. ‘All politics is local’ and the role of our members in supplying products for local infrastructure, purchasing materials and services from local suppliers and employing local people is an important strength which should not be taken for granted. I am sure that MPANI will be to the fore in leading its members in this area this role in the coming years. It seems that as soon as Covid was receding in our rear-view mirror earlier this year, the war in Ukraine erupted. Without going into the politics of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I am sure we all look with horror at the immense hardship brought up on the people of Ukraine since February and we can only hope that eventually diplomacy will prevail and an end can be brought to this needless war. From a business perspective, the impact of
At our most recent round of regional meetings held in June, significant concern was expressed that increased building costs will result in reduced construction activity in the coming year. However, while some element of a slowdown is likely, the fact remains that significant investment in housing and public infrastructure as outlined in the Government’s “Housing for All” strategy and “National Development Plan” will underpin ongoing activity. ICF will continue to keep our members fully briefed on developments, over which unfortunately we have little control. While activity levels in the industry is always to the forefront of our minds, ICF continues to focus on the key policy areas impacting upon our members daily. In February we held our “Spring Quarry Safety Campaign” with the support of the Health and Safety Authority. In addition, our Health and Safety Committee has produced a series of toolbox talk video aids which are now available publicly on our website and YouTube channel. These videos are the result of discussions at our committee last year, where the need for more effective communication of risk to employees in our sector was identified. I would like to thank ICF members who hosted and participated in the production of these videos. Needless to say, MPANI members are welcome to use these videos to complement their ongoing safety training.
MPANI 2022 | 2023
