The IDA drew up a "hit-list" of the world's top 100 service companies and has pursued them relentlessly to establish high-tech call centres in Ireland.
The agency's latest triumph - persuading United Airlines to bring its entire European reservations system to Dublin - pushes towards 9,000 the number of people to be employed in the sector.
Five years ago, IDA Ireland executives began a study of the future use of call centres by global services companies. Monitoring trends in the US, and developments in telecommunications, they reckoned that many of these companies would soon begin consolidating their telephone services.
"We weighed it up, and saw that the sector provides high-volume employment. We recognised that it was higher-risk, more mobile than others, but it could provide jobs for people with just Leaving Certs, and we needed that," one IDA insider explained.
The agency worked its way down a hit-list, targeting the top company in each area, and saw considerable success. Currently, there are some 50 call centres in the Republic, employing 4,500 people. By the end of the decade, total employment is set to rise to 9,000.
The biggest call centre employers are Gateway 2000, with 800 staff; UPS, which will have 900 workers by 2000; IBM, which will employ 750 in Blanchardstown; Hertz, which seems destined to have at least 500 telephone workers in Dublin by the end of the decade, AOL Bertelsmann, which is heading for 500 workers; Dell, with 350 staff; and American Airlines, with over 200.
