LOUTH COUNTY COUNCIL HAILS PAYPAL JOBS BOOST AS ENDORSEMENT FOR MULTI-AGENCY APPROACH
21st February 2012
Louth County Council has welcomed the announcement by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD, that PayPal – the global online payments provider – is to create 1,000 jobs in Dundalk over the next four years.
With the project supported by IDA Ireland, recruitment for the positions in Dundalk is expected to commence in the middle of this year with the operation to serve the EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) region at the eBay-owned company.
Cllr Michael O’Dowd, Deputy Chairman, Louth County Council, said: “This is excellent news for Louth and – in particular – Dundalk. It marks the culmination of a great deal of proactive work by many individuals and agencies who’ve rolled up their sleeves and worked together to deliver this result for the town and the region more widely. We can now continue to build on the momentum this announcement gives us and leverage the PayPal presence here to generate further opportunities.
“We’ve seen plenty darker days than this on the jobs front so it’s only right that we celebrate what has been achieved with this project. It also follows the Prometric and Satir announcements of 100 and 40 jobs respectively in recent years. The success in attracting PayPal also reflects very well on the calibre of our labour force and the supply of skilled graduates from Dundalk Institute of Technology continues to play a key role in this regard.”
For his part, Conn Murray, Louth County Manager, echoed Cllr O’Dowd’s view that the win for Dundalk was an endorsement of teamwork. “One of the areas where Louth really fights above its weight is in terms of people collaborating to get good results. This is very clear with an organisation like the Louth Economic Forum which brings together all of the relevant public and private sector stakeholders to promote Louth as a business location. As well as its promotional role, the Forum is also very useful in terms of identifying any blockages in the system that might reduce our chances of securing projects such as this one from PayPal.
“Given the national and international economic climate, it is essential that we play to our strengths and fight for every scrap of investment and job creation we can in Louth. The way that all of the players on the Louth team combine gives me confidence in this regard. It also fits very well with the direction of Government policy which sees a more integrated approach being taken to enterprise support and barriers removed for those with the potential to create employment.”
Paddy Donnelly
Senior Executive Officer
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