The Irish Mining and Quarrying Society (IMQS) and the Construction Industry in Ireland
Many of the extractive industry companies are directly involved in the Construction Industry in Ireland. For example, the quarrying industry supplies concrete products for building homes, commercial property and community venues, such as amenities centres. They also supply stone and road resurfacing products and limestone for agricultural hygiene products. Irish mining companies supply various materials such as plasterboard, zinc, gypsum to the construction industry.
The quarrying sector supplies material directly to the construction industry. National, regional and local infrastructure developments, including housing, roads, bridges, rail, renewable energy projects and community projects, e.g. sports facilities, all rely on the highest quality material being sourced from quarries in Ireland to supply the construction phase of a project.
Similarly, the standards to which the regulated quarrying industry are held and the investment that is made by the individual companies in order to ensure that the materials leaving each quarry are of a high quality reflects the influence of the legislative standards that are expected of the construction industry and the industry suppliers.
As a result of this association, the economic fluctuations that impact the construction sector have an automatic and direct impact on the success of the quarrying sector and on the livelihoods of the thousands of skilled and experienced staff who are directly and indirectly employed within the sector. The last 15 years has highlighted the symbiotic nature of this delicate relationship more than ever before.
The mining industry in Ireland is also associated with the construction industry. As detailed in the section entitled “Mining in Ireland” within this website, there are a number of active mines on the island of Ireland that are providing materials to the construction industry. Materials vary from plasterboard to metals (gypsum, zinc, lead and gold) and these minerals and metals are an integral part of the development of infrastructure projects in Ireland.
