The US software firm McAfee will create 152 jobs at a new software operations centre and international headquarters in Cork.
The company, which develops software that protects computers from viruses and hackers, is relocating its European headquarters and a key software development centre from Amsterdam to Cork.
The project, which was first disclosed in The Irish Times in July, was announced in the US today by Minister Micheál Martin who was on a visit to McAfee's US corporate headquarters.
The Cork centre will have a product development team established to carry out work on new types of software and a multilingual team to localise software. It will also act as an international headquarters providing financial shared services and operations to its operations outside the US.
Mr Stephen Richards, chief operating and financial officer for McAfee, said Ireland's technology capability, track record and workforce expertise would improve the firm's performance.
McAfee develops antivirus software for large enterprises, governments, small and medium-sized businesses, and consumers.
Mr Martin said winning the software project would further enhance Ireland's reputation as a global centre for software and internet security. He said it was also a coup for IDA Ireland.
"Over 80 per cent of the jobs will require a third-level qualification in disciplines such as software product development, engineering and localisation; finance and accounting and supply chain management," said the Minister.
The new jobs will be created by McAfee over three years. The decision to relocate its European finance operations to the Republic from the Netherlands follows a similar move by one of its chief competitors, Symantec, two years ago.
Both decisions were driven by the competitive corporate tax rate offered in Ireland, which stands at 12.5 per cent. The equivalent tax rate in the Netherlands is currently 34 per cent.
"Since all EMEA/APAC revenue runs through Amsterdam, the savings would be considerable," one McAfee staff member working at its Amsterdam office told ezine, the register in July.
McAfee, which was previously known as Network Associates, was founded in 1989 and is quoted on the New York Stock Exchange. It employs 3,841 worldwide. The McAfee jobs announcement follows a string of new technology jobs announced over the past few months by the IDA.
Earlier this month the French software firm Business Objects said it would create 350 new jobs in Dublin over two years.
