Behind all the professional reports, the best place for an instant appraisal of the property and construction market is at the coalface of the building sites.

I spoke with Keith Manning, the co-founder of Gaelic Plant Hire and he said demand, activity and pressures on costs are at “Celtic Tiger” levels, with signs of overheating.

Gaelic Plant Hire currently has approximately 600 machines on hire to Irish sites, from excavators to teleporters to trucks.

Mr Manning says the plant-hire business is “over-trading”, with a high level of cross-hiring between suppliers.

Gaelic Plant Hire now has over 50 machines on hire from other companies to meet the demand from customers.

Because data centres and pharmaceutical sector construction sites stayed open during the lockdowns the hire sector remained busy, but the reopening of all sites worldwide has exacerbated the shortage of machinery.

Mr Manning said this has led to “panic-buying” by builders and hire-companies. The shortage of equipment is a global problem and there is now a delivery delay of 12 to 16 months for new machines.

Much of the delay is caused by a worldwide shortage of steel and of electronic components produced in China.

There is also a severe scarcity of manpower, with builders struggling to recruit drivers and machinery operators.

Cost consultants and project managers Turner & Townsend are pointing to rampant inflation in the cost of building materials this year, ranging from 20pc for roofing to 50pc for steelwork.

They estimate the effect of this will be a 10pc impact on the overall cost of most projects.

The reason for these increases, director Bryn Griffiths told me, is the “perfect storm” of a shortage of materials, Covid-related production delays and increased shipping costs because of Brexit.

They foresee particular increases in the cost of public sector contracts as the price risk sits entirely with the contractor, with little flexibility to deal with sudden increases.

The consultants expect public contracts tendered now will be priced not just to reflect all current increases, but potentially adding significant risk premiums for future changes.

In the private sector, some building contractors are already reducing the fixed price period offered in order to reduce their risk.

Mr Griffiths sees a lot of the raw material production costs easing in six to nine months, but warned costs tend to be “sticky”.

“They jump quickly and fall slowly,” he told me.

Mr Manning is already seeing these cost pressures working through the system.

He believes contractors on fixed-price contracts are suffering losses which they are now seeking to mitigate by tightening terms with sub-contractors – and indeed with the plant hire companies.

An industry veteran, Mr Manning is sounding a note of caution.

He believes there is a “vulnerability” in the market and the biggest problem now for developers and contractors is assessing risk due to cost inflation and delivery delays.

Construction machinery is “written-down” over an eight year period, and he believes the current market is not sustainable.

In a week where there has been commentary about house prices returning to “Celtic Tiger” levels, the severe upward pressure on costs on the building sites is not good news for the objective to increase the supply of “affordable housing” – nor indeed in the commercial sector generally.