Irish premier Enda Kenny has described online payment group PayPal's creation of 1,000 new jobs in Ireland as a signal of confidence in the country and its people even though the nation continues to struggle with recession and the euro crisis.
Despite an unemployment rate of 12.4%, February has seen an upsurge in job creation across the Republic mainly in financial services and hi-tech sectors.
Unveiling the PayPal jobs investment, which will be located in Dundalk near the border with Northern Ireland, the taoiseach said: "It is a clear recognition of the opportunities that Ireland offers global leaders like PayPal."
The online payments company already has a large presence in the Republic, with 1,500 workers at its European Centre of Excellence in Blanchardstown, west Dublin. PayPal has been located in Ireland since 2003 and invested €15m (£12.6m) in the establishment of the Blanchardstown site.
The expansion in Ireland showed that the Republic's low corporation tax regime and educated workforce was still attracting inward investment, Kenny added.
PayPal's vice-president, Louise Phelan, said that the company had considered other foreign locations before plumping for Ireland. Earlier this month US technology giant HP announced it was creating 280 new jobs in Ireland consisting of 150 research and development posts alongside 130 new technical support staff. HP already employs 4,000 workers at four different sites in the Republic.
At the same time Abbot, the healthcare company, is investing €85m in its Irish pharma-manufacturing plant, creating 175 jobs.
Mastercard, meanwhile, has located its new global headquarters for its technology operations in Dublin with the creation of 130 jobs over the next four years.
However, news of the jobs boost in Ireland's private sector was tempered by an Irish Congress of Trade Unions forecast on the Republic's community and voluntary sector.
The ICTU study forecast that more than 11,000 jobs in the community and voluntary tiers of the economy will be lost over the next two years. The Irish trade union movement said ongoing austerity cuts to meet the conditions of the IMF/EU multibillion euro bailout package would result in the job losses as community and voluntary programmes had their funding slashed.
Barry O'Leary, chief executive of Ireland's Industrial Development Authority, said the PayPal investment was a "clear endorsement of Ireland's attractiveness to multinational investors".
In recent years the Republic has become the European hub for a number of US online companies, including Twitter and Facebook.
