TWITTER, THE rapidly growing social network which has 100 million users, has confirmed that it is to establish an “international” office in Ireland.

At the insistence of the San Francisco company, the news was tweeted from the IDA Ireland Twitter account yesterday morning.

“Ireland is trending. Twitter to establish international office in Dublin,” read the tweet which was posted at 6.30am yesterday.

The company issued a short statement to The Irish Times.

“The Twitter office in Dublin, our third location outside of the US, is a great next step in the company’s global expansion,” it said.

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton called Twitter “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,” Mr Bruton said.

Dublin is the third location where Twitter has opened outside the US, with the other offices in London and Tokyo. Late last year it was widely reported that London, Dublin and Berlin were being considered as locations for Twitter’s European HQ.

Neither IDA Ireland nor Twitter would be drawn on how many jobs might be created in Dublin. Twitter currently has about 650 staff globally, according to its website.

The company is understood to have shortlisted a number of properties in Dublin 2 and Dublin 4, but it has not yet signed a lease on a property.

Earlier this month a new Irish company, Twitter International Company, was registered at the offices of Dublin law firm Matheson Ormsby Prentice.

One of its directors is Ali Rowghani, the San Francisco-based chief financial officer of Twitter.

The US company has been a target of IDA Ireland for a number of years.

It is understood both sides had been in negotiations for about nine months.

Twitter’s co-founder and executive chairman Jack Dorsey visited Dublin last October to attend the F.ounders and Dublin Web Summit conferences.

Mr Dorsey said he was impressed by the entrepreneurial culture in the city.

Although no information has been provided on possible job numbers, IDA Ireland said it was hoped Twitter’s Irish operations would follow the model of Google and Facebook by starting small and expanding rapidly.

Google now employs more than 2,000 employees while Facebook has more than 200 in Dublin staff.

It is understood the initial roles at Twitter will be in finance, marketing and user support. Recruitment has already begun for some roles.