Google Ireland Ltd, the company that runs Google’s European headquarters, recorded profits of EUR47.5 million for the last year, a more than five-fold increase on the previous year.

Despite the recession, the austerity budgets, the increasing unemployment and the towering national debt, Google claim that the booming profits are down to growth in the online advertising market. Turnover for the company was nearly EUR8 billion last year.

According to the accounts, the average wage at Google is between EUR64,007 to EUR72,207, with staff sharing in a generous bonus scheme, including shares in the company.
Although the profits are for last year, John Herlihy, Google’s European Director of Online Sales & Operations, said that the profits had continued to grow in 2010.

Significantly, Google continues to hire in Ireland, with a planned 200 jobs to be created when it opens a new office for Googlemaps, its controversial online map software. It also spent EUR18 million in taxes, spent roughly the same on research and development, and, unlike many foreign companies operating in Ireland, the profits were kept in Ireland rather than being sucked up by the parent company.

Google set up their headquarters in the iconic gasworks on Dublin’s Barrow Street in 2003 and the offices are Google’s biggest operation outside the U.S.