Online transactions company PayPal is to announce it is creating 1,000 new jobs in Ireland.

The company, which is owned by digital auction giant eBay, already employs 1,500 people in Dublin and the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, is expected to make the announcement about the new jobs on Tuesday.

The joint announcement underlines the importance Ireland attaches to its vision of becoming the "Silicon Valley" of Europe.

The new jobs, to be filled over four years, will make the company the biggest web operation of the multi-nationals that have based their European headquarters in Europe including Google, Facebook and games company Zynga.

Google employs about 2,000 staff while Facebook employs about 300 in Dublin but is considering doubling in size.

PayPal is the global leader in online payment solutions. It was founded in 1998 and has 232 million customers in 190 markets worldwide. The new posts are expected to be in customer and sales support.

Its decision to expand so aggressively in Ireland is a fillip for the struggling Irish economy which is in its second year of a four-year IMF/EU bailout programme.