Google is to invest €75 million in a new energy efficient data centre in west Dublin.

Some 200 jobs will be created with the construction of the centre, which will employ 30 staff once operational.

Head of Google Ireland John Herlihy said the naturally cool climate in Ireland was a cause for praise, as the centre will use outside air to cool equipment instead of relying on air-conditioning units.

Google said it had acquired 11 acres of land and an existing building in Profile Park, Grange Castle, Dublin 22, for the facility, which is expected to be around 4,000 sq m in size. The warehouse on the site will be turned into a specialised data centre.

Construction workers moved on to the site yesterday, and the centre is expected to be fully operational late next year. 

The new facility is in addition to Google's existing data centre in Dublin.

Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton said the cloud computing industry offered Ireland a "massive opportunity" for jobs and economic growth.

"The decision by Google, one of the most important multinational companies in Ireland, to locate a state of the art data centre in Dublin is an endorsement of our policies in this area, and a sign of what is possible if we continue our focus," he said.

Google already employs about 2,000 people in Ireland.

Separately, it was revealed that JRI America, a subsidiary of Japanese IT financial services company Japan Research Institute, is to set up software development operations in Tralee, Co Kerry. The facility may create up to 100 highly skilled positions over the next five years, and recruitment has already begun.

The Tralee facility operation will support JRI's western hemisphere IT operations in the US, UK and Dubai.

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan welcomed the news.

"This investment shows our capacity to provide an increasingly competitive, business‐friendly environment in which technology companies can grow and develop," he said.