US companies create major boost for Ireland - Facebook and Google add space to Dublin HQs

Top ten Internet companies have bases in Ireland as investment continues to soar

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KATE HICKEY,

IrishCentral Editor

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Aerial shot of Dublin's Docklands

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Facebook, ahead of its $5 billion initial public offering, is considering leasing the headquarters of the Bank of Ireland. Currently, 380 are employed by their Dublin base.

Paddy Conlon, a CBRE director says financial-services and information-technology companies are showing interest in expanding in Ireland. Salesforce and Citigroup’s Citibank are both looking to rent in the city center.

The Irish Industrial Development Authority (IDA) are already looking ahead to the next wave of companies on their way to Ireland. In fact, they keep a list of companies run by former Google employees to identify future expansion candidates.

In 2010, the IDA set up a new unit to target companies with less than $30 million a year in revenue. Since then five of them have come to Ireland.

IDA Chief Executive Officer Barry O’Leary said, “We’ve already got the top 10 companies born of the Internet. We ain’t gonna stop at that.”

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