Dublin's ongoing rehabilitation as a European business hub has continued with the news Dell is opening a new financial services centre in the Irish capital, creating some 300 jobs for industry experts based in Ireland.
While the rest of the country, particularly its rural towns, remain in the doldrums, Dublin itself is undergoing a major recovery following the financial problems seen over the last five years.
The liberalisation of the financial services sector has played a part in this, with Dell the latest company to take advantage of this shift - it has already been awarded a licence by the Central Bank of Ireland and is creating a bank at its Cherrywood base in south Dublin.
It is taking on 200 new employees straight away and another 100 over the next three years, with some of the positions having already been filled.
Dell already employs about 2,500 people at campuses in Dublin, Limerick and Cork, although it was criticised recently when it relocated its computer manufacturing base from Limerick to Poland, resulting in thousands of workers being made redundant.
Speaking at the launch of the new bank in Cherrywood, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said: "At a time when we are working to rebuild the economy and the financial services sector, it is a great vote of confidence for us to have a company of Dell's calibre select Ireland as the home for its financial services business."
The company expressed its hope that its new business will offer a real alternative to banks and other sources of IT financing.
Ireland's business-friendly regulation and taxation regime has seen a number of companies relocate to Dublin, with fast-growing online holiday-rental service AirBnB recently moving its European headquarters to the city, joining tech firms such as Apple, Google and Microsoft.
While it has long been considered a major hub for financial services, events in recent years have seen its reputation plummet, with emerging market capitals such as Hong Kong and Singapore moving in to fill the gap.
