Credit card giant Mastercard will create 1,500 jobs in Dublin as part of a massive expansion.
The firm is set to lease three office blocks in Leopardstown, Dublin from businessman Cyril McGuire.
Mastercard already employs 500 workers at an Irish office which it opened in 2008 and has pledged to more than treble its workforce here to 1,700.
Caretaker Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and some of the credit card company’s executives announced the plan on Monday morning.
Executive vice president and head of Mastercard Labs Ken Moore said: “Ireland is the heart of our global innovation efforts – throughout Mastercard, Dublin is admired as a key technology hub – we’re looking to replicate the innovation culture we’ve fostered here in our offices around the world.
“The vibrant culture we have here makes it the perfect place to recruit for these highly-skilled roles. We need great minds who can look outside of Mastercard’s traditional payments expertise and create solutions to benefit our customers around the world, and I’m excited to grow our business here.”
The buildings that Mastercard is leasing will ultimately have space for 2,500 workers.
The firm will occupy the newly-developed One South County office building and is expected to confirm an agreement to lease Two and Three South County, which are not yet built.
The news will be the first major multinational jobs announcement since the General Election on February 8 and one of the biggest in recent years.
The Leopardstown office is the headquarters of Mastercard Labs, the company’s research and development arm, which is dedicated to bringing innovative payment solutions to market.
Since the opening of its Irish office in 2008, the number of people employed by Mastercard in Dublin has increased
by 880%.
