Additional 50,000 skilled workers needed to meet Government housing targets

Report recommends recruitment campaign to attract plumbers, carpenters, and bricklayers from Europe and beyond

A new report estimates 50,830 workers must be recruited to build 33,000 new homes each year.  Picture: PA

More than 50,800 skilled workers will need to be recruited if the Government is to meet its targets for building new homes and retrofitting hundreds of thousands of existing stock, a major report has found.

The report for training agency Solas and the Department of Further and Higher Education estimates that 50,830 workers will have to be recruited to build 33,000 new homes each year through to the end of 2030, and to retrofit 446,300 houses, while maintaining the existing housing stock over the same period.