Andersen looking to fill 350 jobs in Dublin

Recruitment of the 350 new employees at Andersen Consulting's European shared services centre in Dublin is to begin in the coming weeks.

A number of locations in the city and county with easy access to Dublin Airport are being examined for the $60 million centre, which will act as a one-stop-shop or "showcase" facility for European clients of the firm. In the meantime, with some senior management positions already filled, a temporary office has been opened at Harcourt Street.

Announcing details of the plan yesterday, the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, said it was "an extremely prestigious development for the city and the country. Andersen Consulting is the first global consulting firm to set up such an operation in Ireland."

The centre will offer a range of support functions such as financial processing, procurement, information technology, human resources and administrative services, concentrating on the domestic, British and German markets in the first phase of a three-year-plan, which will see its services extended to 13 other countries. The first transactions within the centre will take place in the first quarter of 1999.

Mr Vernon J. Ellis, Andersen Consulting's managing director for Europe, said one of the reasons the Republic was chosen was because of a "ready pool of well skilled people". Other reasons included the State's infrastructure and the existence of vendor networks necessary to support large-scale start-up operations.

Mr Martin Cronin, executive director of IDA Ireland, said that with many top executives from international companies passing through the centre, it should prove to be "a big asset" for Ireland.