US company Enterprise Rent-a-Car is set to create 30 new jobs and open seven new branches as part of a Europe-wide expansion of the business, it announced yesterday.

The company said it would increase the number of Irish branches to 28 from 21 and add 30 new employees to its workforce, bringing job numbers to a total of 160.

It also plans to double its number branches throughout Europe to 600. In Germany, it intends recruiting 275 workers this year, and a further 1,700 over the next five years. It will hire 650 new staff in Britain this year, and a total of 2,000 over the next five.