by the Department of Finance on the procurement procedure for State building projects. After his lobbying, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan agreed to allow €150m of water service projects to go ahead under old "costs plus" contracts rather than the "fixed price" contracts. In fact, the reversal was due to an administrative decision amongst local authorities and not as a consequence of any lobbying. Post political career Construction Industry Federation Parlon was appointed as Director General of the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) in July 2007. His appointment coincided with the downturn in the construction sector and the economy in general. As head of the CIF, Parlon was strongly opposed to the formation of NAMA, which has taken over many of the distressed loans of members of the CIF. In May 2009, the Sunday Independent newspaper reported that Parlon was raising a multimillion-euro warchest from developers to fund research to look at ways to oppose the formation of the National Asset Management Agency and potentially take a legal action against it. The warchest was to be overseen through a sub-committee within CIF. This sub-committee and the collection of the €2,000 levy was opposed by the Irish Property Council which stated: "It is not understood if or how a sub-committee of the CIF has a mandate which allows it represent property developers in all of the current areas of concern as against the interests of the construction industry as a whole". Parlon's tenure in CIF has also seen the deterioration in industrial relations in the construction industry. On 7 July 2009, in an interview with Pat Kenny, Parlon controversially referred to striking electricians and their union as "lunatics". By 12 July 2009, Parlon and the Electrical Contractors Association had agreed to pay the striking electricians a pay increase of 4.9%, rather than a pay cut of 10% which he had publicly demanded. The pay increases had been due for a number of years. In November 2010, a leading member of the Construction Industry Federation, and the NAMA sub-committee openly called for Parlon's resignation. In an email to members, Cork-based developer Michael O'Flynn noted that Parlon had publicly "attack[ed] and ridicule[d] the very people he purports to represent. If we must take abuse from other members of society, so be it; but for abuse to be self-inflicted by a man whose salary we pay is unforgivable." Possible return to politics In September 2010,