Apple To Create 1,000 Jobs In Ireland

Apple is to create 1,000 new jobs at its Irish office in County Cork, boosting its workforce to 6,000 at the country.

The Hollyhill facility opened in 1980 and will be expanded to accommodate the new intake. The Irish government says the company has an “enormous impact” on job creation in the country and estimates Apple supports at least 18,000 positions.

“Apple’s plans for new facilities at their Cork campus that can house a further 1,000 jobs is a very welcome boost of confidence in Cork and the South West region,” said Taoiseach Enda Kenny. “These new jobs come on top of 1,000 additional jobs already created at Apple in the past 12 months, which brought the workforce in Ireland to over 5,000 in 2015.

Apple in Ireland

“This continued expansion by the company is testament to the quality of the talent pool, the infrastructure and the business environment that this country has to offer and further cements Apple as one of the leading employers in Ireland.”

IDA Ireland, which is responsible for the development and promotion of foreign investment in the country, has welcomed the development. Apple has also committed to support sustainable offshore energy in Ireland and is building a brand new data centre in County Galway, which TechWeekEurope exclusively revealed will be designed by Arup.

“For any company to be located at the same campus for over 30 years is a remarkable thing – that Apple continues to expand at this rate in 2015 is truly exceptional,” added Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland.

“Ever since Apple was first involved in manufacturing in Cork in 1980, the Irish site has continued to evolve and provide an excellent base to support the company’s growth and development. The scale of the operation in Hollyhill is vast, with manufacturing, supply chain, AppleCare and shared services operations taking place within one campus. Today’s news follows an announcement by Apple in February of this year where they revealed plans to put an €850 million data centre in Athenry.”

The timing of the announcement is significant the European Union is due to make a decision on whether the Irish government’s willingness to let Apple house billions of dollars of revenue in the country for tax reasons amounts to state aid. Reuters says a decision on whether international tax rules have been broken is expected after Christmas.

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