Sky Ireland plans to take on 900 by June and invest €1bn over five years

Satellite broadcaster Sky Ireland expects to have more than 900 new staff in place by the end of June. This will bring its employment levels here to about 1,000.

The company has already recruited 500 staff for its new customer contact centre and sales office on Burlington Road in Dublin 4, which was officially opened yesterday.

Speaking to a large audience of senior media and advertising executives, and politicians, BSkyB chief executive Jeremy Darroch said the company would invest €1 billion over the next five years in Ireland.

He said the establishment of a base in Ireland was a signal of its commitment to the market here.

“We see great potential here,” he said. “Ireland has been a great, great market for us and more than 2 million homes here tune into Sky channels each week.

“We’ve always run the Irish business as an offshoot of the UK. The opening of this new centre – our first on-the-ground presence at scale in Ireland – changes that and sends a clear signal of our commitment to the market.”

Mr Darroch said Sky intends to begin the commercial launch of a residential broadband and voice telephony service in Ireland next month.

He did not give any indication of pricing but the company plans to wholesale a broadband and voice product from BT Ireland.

Sky is also planning to commission a second series of Moone Boy, which was filmed in Roscommon.

“We hope it’s just the first in a long line of Irish productions,” Mr Darroch said.

The launch was attended by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, who welcomed Sky’s investment here and said it was another signal of confidence returning to the Irish economy.

“We’re a great location for digital content providers and for companies looking to source highly educated, highly-motivated workers,” the Taoiseach said.

He added that the Irish Film Board was finalising its review of the extension of tax reliefs for audio-visual productions.

“The first series of Moone Boy. . . has been so well received and has put Irish talent, and Boyle [Co Roscommon], on the map,” he said.

“We’re looking forward now to a decision on developing the next series too.”