Internet search engine Google is to ramp up employment in Ireland as part of an expansion of its workforce across Europe this year. Google's outgoing chief executive Eric Schmidt said last week that the company would create 1,000 new jobs across the continent.

"The new jobs will be primarily split between engineering and sales," a spokeswoman said. "We have more than 5,000 employees across the region and we're not able to provide a country-by-country breakdown as to where new hires may be, because it's early days. But we're hiring across the entire region."

The new jobs in Dublin are in addition to another 200 jobs that were announced last year that will take the total workforce here to 1,700. Google's European operations are headed up by John Herlihy.

Google is close to agreeing a deal to acquire its headquarters building in Dublin 4 and recently rented additional office space in Dublin. It is also said to be in talks to rent part of Montevetro, an office building being developed opposite its current headquarters.

"We have just announced a stellar quarter and we are preparing for another year of great success," the spokeswoman said. "Our core business is growing and our emerging businesses are on fire. For example, there are now more than 100 Android compatible devices, with over 300,000 new activations every day. Global Chrome's browser share is more than 10% in just two years, with over 120 million users."