Making the announcement yesterday, Taoiseach Enda Kenny claimed more multinationals would be lured to Ireland following a “quite extraordinary” international reaction to the Government’s promissory note deal.
The eBay jobs are in addition to the 1,000 positions announced last year at eBay’s payments division, PayPal. A total of 287 of these jobs have been filled at the Co Louth site to date.
By the end of 2013, the company intends that a further 200 of the PayPal jobs and 60 of the eBay jobs will be filled at the Dundalk operation, a spokeswoman for eBay said.
Mr Kenny described eBay’s expansion in Ireland as “exceptional news” for the northeast and insisted last week’s debt agreement would “lead to further investment as confidence in the Irish economy continues to grow”.
Speaking directly to eBay’s senior director of customer experience in Europe Gary Hagel, Mr Kenny said: “You’ve got an open door to Government.”
The new positions will support eBay's expanding customer base for eBay Marketplaces and PayPal, with information on the jobs available listed at eBaycareers.com. Customer care positions requiring German, Spanish or French language skills are among those currently advertised on the site.
California-based eBay already has a large presence in Ireland, employing a total of 2,300 people. This is set to eventually increase to approximately 3,550, the company said yesterday.
Mr Hagel said eBay “remains fully committed” to its operations in Blanchardstown in west Dublin, “and the people who work there who do an outstanding job”.
He added that hiring in Dundalk would start immediately, with people taking up positions as early as May of this year.
Asked why the company was investing in Ireland, Mr Hagel said eBay had had “10 fabulous years” here with “tremendous” support from the State’s inward investment agency, the IDA.
“Fundamentally it’s the people . . . they’re very talented, very skilled, very passionate.”
Founded in 1995 in San José, eBay introduced the concept of online auctions to consumers and is now focusing attention on the fast-evolving mobile commerce sector.
