Ireland needs almost 80,000 more construction workers to address its infrastructural deficit, a 47pc increase from current levels, according to a new report from the Fiscal Council.
However if productivity improved in the building sector, less than 20,000 extra workers would do, it says.
Ireland’s infrastructure is reckoned to be 25pc lower per person than the average for a high-income European country. While that gap has narrowed since 1995, the Fiscal Council says, there are still significant shortfalls in housing, health, transport and electricity.
