Google's latest decision to invest in its EAMA HQ in Dublin will boost the work force by an additional 500 and comes less than a year after the company announced a similar expansion plan. Currently, in excess of 800 employees representing over 40 nationalities are based at Google in Ireland.

Welcoming the announcement, Minister Martin said: “Google is synonymous with creativity, innovation, and leading-edge technology. Its investment here in Dublin is a huge vote of confidence in our knowledge economy and in our young, educated workforce. Today’s announcement further endorses Ireland’s ability to provide the technical infrastructure and skills base to support such operations. It confirms this country’s status as the leading European location for the largest Internet activities in the world.

John Herlihy, European Director, Online Sales & Operations, Google added:

“As we continue to develop our business, our EMEA headquarters has delivered huge value to all our customers – users and advertisers – from Iceland to South Africa and Ireland to Russia.

"It has an integral role to play in our international business as we continue to localise our products and solutions for our users and advertisers. We hope to see continued innovation at our EMEA headquarters and today’s announcement will help us achieve that.”

Google first located in Ireland in 2003. Google’s EMEA headquarters officially opened in October 2004 in Dublin. The Dublin operation serves customers in over 35 countries, in their local time zones and languages.