High-speed broadband project to create over 250 jobs

Up to 60 jobs and a further 200 in construction have been announced in the building of a new high-speed broadband network around the country.

The ESB and Vodafone are coming together to create SIRO which will invest €450m to initially deliver high-speed broadband to 50 towns around Ireland.

The first 10 towns to get high-speed broadband will be Cavan, Dundalk, Westport, Castlebar, Sligo, Carrigaline, Tralee, Navan, Letterkenny and Wexford

Up to 300 more smaller towns are likely to also get the service in phase two.

Homes and businesses will be able to access speeds of up to 1 gigabit, but CEO Seán Atkinson says as demand requires this will be increased.

Mr Atkinson said: "What we're offering today is what's required, but we'er putting in the fibre-optic cable, and there are electronics at either end and they can be upgraded to push that up to 5, 10 gigabits per second.

"The demand will increase over time."