Online payments giant PayPal has announced the creation of 400 new positions at its European operations centre in Dundalk, and 1,000 more spin-off jobs are expected to be generated in the Co Louth capital as a result.
PayPal’s Dundalk operation opened at the eBay Inc European Operations Centre in 2012, creating 1,000 jobs for Louth. Recruitment for these positions is already ahead of schedule, according to Louise Phelan, PayPal’s vice-president of global operations for the EMEA region, and, following today’s announcement, PayPal’s total Irish workforce will number 2,900 by 2018.
Roles will be available in customer solutions, risk operations, merchant services, telesales and operational excellence. These are primarily English-speaking roles, but there are also a number of language-based opportunities.
Indirect jobs will provide further boost for Dundalk
PayPal also operates a European centre of excellence in Blanchardstown, Dublin, and its Irish operations manage 60m active accounts across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“Dundalk is a very important site in our global operations for supporting our customers,” said Phelan. “We have been delighted to be able to make a very positive impact on the lives of so many people in the area, both through our community activities and by virtue of the jobs we create, which have taken so many unemployed people off the local live register. In addition, we know that almost 1,000 indirect ‘spin-off’ jobs in other local businesses will be created as a result of PayPal’s investment in Dundalk.”
Phelan’s claim of 1,000 spin-off jobs is calculated based on a 2012 report from Indecon Research, which showed that every direct job created in an IDA-assisted manufacturing and internationally traded services company led to the creation of an additional 0.71 indirect jobs in the economy.
“Today’s announcement by PayPal … is a huge boost for a part of the country that has experienced major employment challenges in recent decades,” said the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton, TD.
“Louise Phelan and PayPal Ireland are a stand-out example of a phenomenon we are seeing more and more of in recent years – an Irish operation within a multinational, under strong leadership, becoming more strategically important within global operations and winning new investment and jobs for Ireland,” he added.
A shining example for future IDA pitches
PayPal’s first European operations centre opened in Dublin in 2003 with 25 employees. Today, 2,169 people are employed by PayPal in Ireland across three operations.
An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, TD, recently met with the CEO of eBay Inc (PayPal’s owner) in Silicon Valley, California, to discuss the company’s continued investment in Ireland and offer the Government’s support for further expansion. True to form, this latest investment is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through IDA Ireland.
“PayPal’s growth in Dublin and Dundalk is one of the largest projects the IDA has ever been involved in bringing to Ireland,” said Barry O’Leary, IDA Ireland CEO. “The success of this company is an example that we as IDA executives bring around the world when we pitch for Ireland in boardrooms from Boston to Bombay.”
