By Business & Finance 
John Farrelly, general manager, SAS Ireland and Louise Phelan, vice president of Global Operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa, PayPal.
PayPal continues to invest, expand and show its commitment to Ireland with the recent announcement of new jobs at its European Operations Centre in Dundalk.
PayPal has announced the creation of an additional 400 jobs. These jobs will be based at the eBay Inc. European Operations Centre in Dundalk and are in addition to the 1,000 PayPal positions announced in 2012. This will bring the combined PayPal and eBay employee numbers in Dundalk to 1,850 by 2018.
PayPal’s online and mobile payments centres in Dublin and Dundalk manage 60 million active accounts in EMEA and its growth in Ireland is being fuelled by the increasing number of businesses and consumers who choose PayPal to trade and shop online. Six million of its 148 million active accounts globally were added in the first three months of 2014 alone.
Louise Phelan, vice president of Global Operations for EMEA for PayPal said: “This is great news for Dundalk and the North East region. Dundalk is a very important site in our global operations.
“PayPal is an exciting and dynamic place to work, where talented people can build lasting careers. We are transforming the payments world by creating new, faster and more secure ways for people and businesses to pay and get paid online, on mobile and increasingly in-store. Our new teammates will be shaping the future of commerce.”
Phelan added: “We have been delighted to be able to make a very positive impact on the lives of so many people in the area, both through our community activities and by virtue of the jobs we create, which have taken so many unemployed people off the local live register. In addition, we know that almost 1,000 indirect ‘spin-off’ jobs in other local businesses will be created as a result of PayPal’s investment in Dundalk.”
An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD said: “This PayPal announcement further enhances Ireland’s reputation as a prime location for global businesses and is a tribute to our talented and flexible workforce.”
Barry O’Leary, CEO, IDA Ireland who was also present at the announcement added: “PayPal’s growth in Dublin and Dundalk is one of the largest projects the IDA has ever been involved in. PayPal has found an ideal combination of talent, great infrastructure and suitable property in Dundalk. The success of this company is an example that we as IDA executives bring around the world when we pitch for Ireland in boardrooms from Boston to Bombay.”
About the CEO
Louise Phelan is VP, Global Operations EMEA for PayPal, responsible for leading over 2,000 people in Dublin, Dundalk and Berlin. She is also the current president of the American Chamber of Commerce.
Phelan joined PayPal in 2006. Prior to joining the company she was a member of the senior management team for GE Money, a division of General Electric (GE).
She joined the board of Ryanair in 2012 as a non-executive director, is one of the six industry partners appointed on the Action Plan for Jobs Implementation Group and also sits on the newly reconfigured National Competitiveness Council.
Phelan has been widely recognised for her contribution to Ireland including being presented with the Sir Michael Smurfit Achievement Award by The Ireland Chamber of Commerce United States in 2012.
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