Status
DKM Economic Consultants is a specialist economic consultancy firm based in Dublin which was established in 1981. It is a subsidiary of Davy, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of the Bank of Ireland Group.

Field of activities
DKM Economic Consultants undertakes commissioned research projects over a range of areas in applied economics. The firm's work covers construction, housing, transport, energy, and finance as well as regulatory, socio-economic and regional studies. The firm's client base covers most of the large State and private companies in Ireland, Government Departments and State Agencies. Its clients also include international organisations, including the EU Commission and the World Bank.
DKM has extensive experience of the Irish housing and construction sector and a track record in economic forecasting for that sector. The firm has been engaged by the Department of the Environment and Local Government (DoELG) in recent years to (i) prepare the official estimates of national and regional construction output, (ii) assess the medium term outlook for construction and employment and (iii) examine the challenges facing the industry over the medium term. DKM recently completed a project which developed a mix-adjusted house price index for the DoELG.

Research Projects The firm has completed projects for a number of private companies and financial institutions operating in the housing and construction sector including studies which examined:

• the prospects for some of the key concerns surrounding mortgage finance and housing affordability;
• the outlook for Domestic Mortgage Indemnity in the Republic of Ireland;
• developments in the economy of Dublin including demographic, settlement and housing trends in the Greater Dublin Area; and
• the prospects for construction materials in the period to 2015.

During the 1990s DKM acted as External Evaluator to the Operational Programme for Transport 1994-1999 (OPT), and its predecessor, the Operational Programme for Peripherality 1989-1993 (OPP). These are multi-mode programmes of investment in Ireland's transport infrastructure, co-funded by the EU and the Irish Government. DKM's evaluation team included its own economists plus economists and engineers from Irish and UK universities, research institutes and consulting firms.

Nature of work More generally, projects undertaken for clients have included:

market and data analysis economic impact studies reviews of pricing and subsidy issues appraisals of transport policy issues energy policy appraisals housing policy appraisals housing affordability and prospects employment patterns and land use markets

project appraisals infrastructure investment appraisals and evaluations corporate strategy studies implications of EU policies and directives tariff studies demographic and household trends and projections budget submissions measurement of housing and construction output.

As External Evaluator, DKM's role involved reviewing all aspects of the programmes, reporting on progress in their implementation, evaluating the financial, physical, economic and qualitative aspects of investments, recommending changes where necessary to investment measures and project selection criteria (including evaluation of cost-benefit studies) and liaising with Government Departments, the EU Commission and other parties as and when necessary.

DKM' expertise in evaluation also extends to energy where the firm has carried out studies including an economic evaluation of the optimal infrastructural options for meeting gas demand up to the year 2025, and an evaluation of future gas transmission in the Republic of Ireland.

Resources The DKM Team consists of four professional economists supplemented by the economic research capability of Davy. The firm also utilises a panel of experts from Irish and United Kingdom universities and research institutes in the engineering, transport and energy fields.

NEXT:  Construction Trends in the Irelands

1

2