Minister Bruton said: “Twitter is one of the most exciting and fastest-growing companies in the world. Today’s announcement that it is to establish an international office in Ireland is a massive win, and shows there is real ground for Ireland’s claim to be the internet capital of Europe. It also shows that, despite our difficulties, we still have real strengths as an economy, and it is important to acknowledge that.
“The challenge now is to build on our strengths and the presence in Ireland of world-leading companies like Twitter to build an indigenous engine of growth and get people back to work. Today’s announcement shows that we have real grounds for optimism in facing that challenge,” said Mr Bruton.
Twitter is an online social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets."
Twitter was created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey and has rapidly gained worldwide popularity, with over 100 million active users generating more than 230 million tweets per day.
Twitter Inc is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Although the number of jobs to be created has yet to be announced, Barry O’Leary, CEO of IDA Ireland, expressed his delight at the decision. "IDA is absolutely thrilled that Twitter has decided to establish an international office in Ireland. Twitter is a fantastic addition to Ireland’s dynamic digital media cluster and we are excited to support the company’s continued international growth," said Mr O’Leary.
Fine Gael Dublin Central Deputy, Mr Paschal Donohue, said that the Twitter jobs announcement is further proof of Ireland’s attractiveness overseas.
“Twitter’s announcement that Ireland is indeed trending and that it is to follow in the footsteps of Facebook, Google and LinkedIn by opening operations here is fantastic news and further proof of Ireland’s ability to attract high profile, internet-based companies here,” he said.
“While the number of jobs that this will result in is still unknown, the success and growth of Facebook and Google here, both of whom have expanded operations and the number of people they employ significantly, signals a positive future for this new venture.
“Ireland has so much to offer to overseas companies coming to Ireland. We have a well educated and talented English-speaking workforce, our competitiveness is growing all the time, and we have an extremely attractive corporation tax which continues to entice foreign direct investment.
“We still have a long road ahead where our economic recovery is concerned but we are heading in the right direction. As a small, open economy the upturn will largely come as a result of strong export activity. Just last week we saw that services exports, in areas such as computer services, insurance and financial services, were up 8.4 per cent in the first half of 2011 compared with the same time in 2010. We must now ensure that not only foreign companies, but Irish entrepreneurs, continue to see Ireland as a worthwhile consideration and a positive place to do business,” said Mr Donohue.
“Securing these jobs is a triumph for Ireland and a triumph for the IDA. We must now work on consolidating and building from this base and cementing Ireland’s position as the internet capital of Europe,” he said.
