Ireland’s largest construction firm Sisk is understood to be writing to key ministers from relevant Government departments regarding its concerns over material shortages that have hampered the industry.

It is understood Sisk’s concerns relate to public infrastructure spend and housing, with the shortages leading to dramatic price increases in some materials. It is further understood that Sisk hopes for State agencies and the relevant departments to engage with the industry regarding the risk of the cost increases being carried by the sector.

Shortages have affected supplies of products such as steel and timber. It has led to the prices of items increasing.

A spokesman for Sisk said the increased costs impacted the delivery of live jobs.

“It also raises concerns around forecasting the future costs of new projects,” he said. “The tightening of allocations to our supply chain partners means they are not able to access full volumes, which makes everyone nervous about future availability of certain products.

“Although lead times are stretched to unprecedented levels, thankfully, we haven’t been left without materials on any of our projects yet, but this is a very real risk and could happen at any moment.”

The spokesman added it could “address this future cost risk with private clients”, but couldn’t do the same on public contracts. He said it would “become a problem in terms of reducing the industry’s appetite for new public works unless a more collaborative approach is taken by the authorities”.

Separately, Fergus McMahon, the commercial director of Cairn Homes, said the affects of the shortages could increase costs by up to €15,000 for the end product in home building generally.

McMahon said Cairn is working closely with its supply chain, which has paid off for the house builder. He added he was assured that Cairn would be able to continue to deliver on its plans as its supply chain had been “confident enough to secure materials where it can”.