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Recession attracts major US employer
22 November 2009 By Dick O’Brien
The chief executive of a US firm which is creating 150 jobs in Dublin said his company would not be locating in Ireland if it were not for the recession.
Greg Bentley, of Bentley Systems, said that the company had originally discounted Ireland from its plans for an international shared ser vices centre, on account of high costs and the difficulty in hiring qualified people. ‘‘The recession creates capacity for us.
Otherwise we wouldn’t be here," said Bentley, whose company had revenues of $500million last year.
He said that the scarcity of office space and talented workers in Ireland in recent years had become an ‘‘urban legend’’ outside Ireland. The firm, which develops software for big infrastructure projects, had shortlisted a number of eastern European countries as potential locations for its new facility. It was already at an advanced stage in planning when it decided to re-examine Ireland in the light of changing economic conditions, said Bentley.
‘‘While I sympathise with the rising unemployment rate, it is those unemployed who we will be hiring," he said. Bentley said that the unemployed people of a generation ago were ‘‘unemployable’’, but that today’s unemployed were the opposite.
‘‘We will be hiring young professionals, including those who may have been involved in the infrastructure-oriented professions, such as architects and engineers. They have gone through their learning curve and are available to hit the ground running," he said.
The company rated the positive Irish business environment and labour market as the primary factors in choosing the location, above any other cost considerations. ‘‘Only late in the game did we consider the tax advantages. I regard Ireland’s corporate tax rate as merely signifying its commitment to growth; it’s not the first or second consideration," Bentley said.
Bentley Systems has already hired 35 people for the Dublin operation and expects to triple this number within six months, before bringing the total number hired to 150 within a year.
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