Online payments firm Paypal to create 400 jobs in Dundalk

Online payments firm PayPal is to create 400 new jobs in Dundalk, the company confirmed on Wednesday.

These are in addition to the 1,000 positions announced by the company in 2012.

The new roles will be in the areas of customer solutions, risk operations, merchant services, telesales and operational excellence.

The latest investment is supported by IDA Ireland.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny welcomed the announcement, which he said further enhances Ireland’s reputation as a prime location for global businesses.

Mr Kenny said he met with Ebay chief executive John Donahoe while in Silicon Valley last week to discuss the jobs announcement.

“This investment will increase Dundalk’s importance in the company’s overall activities and by developing new functions and expanding Dundalk’s footprint as a key site within the global company it enhances the long-term status of the Dundalk operation,” he said.

The total number of staff employed by PayPal and its parent Ebay at the group’s European Operations Centre facility in Dundalk is expected to total 1,850 by 2018.

“This is great news for Dundalk and the North East region. Dundalk is a very important site in our global operations for supporting our customers,” said Louise Phelan, vice president of global operations of EMEA for PayPal.

“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,” she added.

Founded in 1998, PayPal enables individuals and businesses to send and receive payments online. PayPal has more than 45 million account members and is available to users in 38 countries around the world. Six million of its 148 million active accounts globally were added in the first three months of 2014 alone.

PayPal’s European operations centre opened in Dublin in 2003. Since then, the total number of employees in Ireland has increased from 25 to 2,169. The total number of people working for PayPal in Ireland by 2018 will be 2,900.

Approximately 600 of the original 1,000 positions announced in 2012 have been filled with another 200 people expected to be hired by the end of the year.

Dundalk based deputy Peter Fitzpatrick welcomed the latest announement. He said the jobs are “a great boost for Dundalk.”

“The continued investment by these world leading companies is a huge vote of confidence in the work being done by the current employees, it highlights the top-quality skills base available in Dundalk and it emphasises Dundalk’s attraction as a major business hub.”

Deputy Fitzpatrick said the only disappointing aspect was the decision to make the jobs announcement in Dublin rather than in Dundalk.