Google, the world's leading Internet search company, is to establish its first operations centre outside the US in Dublin creating 200 new jobs, it was confirmed today.
The centre in Dublin will be responsible for administration and client servicing to the European market.
In addition to its service functions, it will locate servers and associated networking equipment in Ireland to handle Google's growing search traffic.
The Tánaiste, Ms Harney confirmed the news today having met with senior management at Google's headquarters in California last weekend.
The Tánaiste described the announcement as "wonderful news" and "a significant step" in the Government's strategy to make Ireland a leading player in the digital media industry.
"Google is truly a household name for Internet searching and its decision to locate in Dublin positions Ireland as a prime location for global Internet services." she added.
Google will recruit mainly graduates with native multi-lingual fluency in a broad range of European languages. Opportunities will be available in customer support, information technology, finance, legal and human resources activities.
Founded in 1998 by Stanford University PhD students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets.
Google is a privately held and profitable company focused on search services. Named for the mathematical term "googol" which is the number 1 followed by one hundred zeroes, Internet users perform more than 200 million searches every day using Google's search engine which carries more than 3 billion web pages.