The construction workforce for the National Broadband Plan (NBP) has increased 25% so far this year, with 1,500 people employed by National Broadband Ireland, according to the company.

NBI, which hold the contract to rollout NBP on behalf of the government, has employed an additional 300 construction workers since January, including 80 through its new partnership with Gaeltec Utilities.

"The National Broadband Plan is a transformational infrastructure project which will ultimately see Ireland become one of the most connected countries in Europe for fibre broadband," said David McCourt, chairman of NBI.

"With 80 additional Gaeltec workers now commencing work in County Wicklow, a workforce of over 1,500 is now deployed to the NBP, showing real momentum in the roll-out."

TJ Malone, deployment CEO of NBI, added: "We are delighted to be working with Gaeltec, our second Kilkenny-based partner. We anticipate 40% of the entire Intervention Area will be under construction by the end of the year.”

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Joao Felizardo, managing director of Gaeltec Utilities, said: "As a Kilkenny company we recognise the benefit high speed broadband can bring to homes, farms and businesses all over the country, and we are delighted to be partnering with NBI to deliver it."

The taxpayer-subsidised Intervention Area for the NBP covers 544,000 premises and around 1.1m people. It is divided into 227 deployment areas, typically 25km in radius and spanning 96% of Ireland.

NBP missed its target of having connected 60,000 premises by the end of March 2022, passing just 41,000 buildings.

(Pic: Getty Images)