Internet search player Google, which already employs around 1,500 people in Dublin, is understood to be planning up to 500 additional jobs for the city.
It has been reported that the company’s Dublin landlord Liam Carroll has submitted a request for planning permission to expand Google’s European headquarters in south Dublin.
According to the Sunday Business Post, the proposal includes a commentary by prominent economist Jim Power of Friends First.
While Power says the expansion would be a feather in Dublin’s cap as a centre for fostering creativity, failure to get planning permission to expand the operation could result in Google looking elsewhere.
The last major expansion at Google’s Barrow Street headquarters took place in November 2006 with the addition of 500 new jobs due to growth in Google’s EMEA business.
In particular, the expansion was attributed to growth in Google’s Adwords and Adsense online advertising divisions.
At the time the expansion was facilitated by the company moving into an identical 100,000sq ft building next door.
By John Kennedy
