Amazon is to create is to create 1,000 jobs in Ireland over the next two years, with the majority of the roles at Amazon Web Services in Dublin.
AWS, a subsidiary of online giant Amazon, offers cloud services spanning computer power, database storage and content delivery. Amazon currently employs more than 2,500 people around Ireland.
The new jobs will be based at the company’s current Dublin sites in Blanchardstown, Tallaght, the city centre and north Co Dublin.
Among the roles being recruited for by Amazon are engineers for software development, network development engineers, data centres, systems and support; solutions architects, security and big-data specialists, development operations engineers and technical management positions.
The announcement was made by Mike Beary, country manager for AWS in Ireland as the company officially opened its Shannon Building on Burlington Road in Dublin.
“We announced in May 2016 that we were going to add 500 new jobs, and we were thrilled that we were able to reach that nine months early,” he said. “That gives us a lot of confidence that we are a compelling employer. We look for people who like to pioneer and build. That attracts a certain type of job candidate, and we’ve been pretty successful at that.”
Vote of confidence
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the news was a vote of confidence in Ireland.
"The genius of Amazon is that it's never finished changing and adapting," he said. "By opening this building and announcing 1,000 jobs you are helping us meet our ambition to make Dublin the tech capital of Europe. "
He said the highly-skilled, full-time jobs Amazon announced were exactly what Ireland was looking for and said the company had played a role in developing Ireland’s data centre infrastructure.
Mr Varadkar said the presence of data centres in Ireland was a good thing, describing them as the backbone of the cloud revolution.
However, he acknowledged the construction of data centres was not universally welcomed.
“There is a balance to be struck and we need to take account of community concerns,” he said.
Last month technology giant Apple cancelled a plan to build an €850 million data centre in Athenry, Co Galway, due to delays caused by objections to the project. However, new legislation being brought forward by the Government will reduce time limits for some planning applications, reduce the period to launch judicial reviews of major planning decisions and tighten the rules for who is eligible to take judicial review proceedings.
Mr Beary welcomed the proposed changes, saying the ability to predict the length of time of the planning process was important for figuring out its future operations.
The news was also welcomed by IDA Ireland, with chief executive Martin Shanahan describing it as a vote of confidence in the country.
“Announcements don’t come much bigger than 1,000 jobs, and not just 1,000 jobs, but high-end, high-tech jobs,” said Mr Shanahan. “It’s exactly the type of investment we want to attract, and the type of expansion we want from companies who are already here.”
