With the economic headlines dominated by falling stockmarkets, slowing growth and rising unemployment, good news is as rare as it is welcome. So the announcement that Google, the Internet search engine company, is establishing in Dublin is a significant boost. The 200 jobs that the company will provide will be welcome, but much more important is the strategic value of the project.
Digital media and the Internet is being targeted as a growth sector for the economy. With the inevitable movement of lower-skilled employment to cheaper locations in Eastern Europe and the Far East, it is essential that the base is laid for the creation of higher value jobs here. If this does not happen, then the employment gains of recent years will slowly dwindle away.
Google's decision to service markets outside North America from its new Irish base is an important marker for the digital sector. Google runs a search engine, which helps people to find things on the Internet. It is estimated that about half the searches conducted on the net use its highly efficient and user-friendly search engine, giving it a hugely dominant position.
Its decision to locate in Ireland should give a boost to the development of the sector here. It will encourage other companies to look here as a place to invest and also contribute to developing a local body of expertise. An IDA spokesman yesterday compared the decision of Google to locate in Dublin to those made by industry giants such as Microsoft and Intel to set up European headquarters in Ireland. Google may never employ as many people as these big players, but in strategic terms the comparison is valid.
The development of international broadband telecommunications links in recent years will have been crucial to Google's decision to invest here. However the Republic is still poorly served with broadband connections within the economy. While there has been much focus on the slow delivery of road and other transport infrastructure investment in recent years, the failure to provide cheap and plentiful advanced telecommunications links across the State is just as serious. As things now stand, businesses find it difficult - or sometimes impossible - to get adequate links, while consumers are denied the full range of services which advanced connectivity can provide.
Unless this is tackled - and quickly - the full potential benefit of the Google investment will not accrue to the economy here and the goal of developing the Republic as a centre of excellence for digital media and the Internet will not be realised.