GOOGLE HAS ANNOUNCED plans to build a new €75m data centre at a site in West Dublin, creating 30 additional full-time jobs as well as 200 jobs in its construction.

The centre will be built over the next 12 to 15 months, the company said this morning, in a move that further cements the search giant’s status as one of Ireland’s largest employers.

The new facility will be built at the business park at Grange Castle, near Clondalkin, which already houses major international employers like Pfizer.

The company declined to indicate which of its services would be serviced at the new facility.

Google’s John Herlihy said that Ireland’s ecological climate was one of the reasons the location had been chosen for the new centre, explaining that the cool weather made it easier to keep the buildings cool.

Jobs minister Richard Bruton, who attended the announcement of the jobs, said the latest investment was a welcome indication of Google’s commitment to Ireland, and to its status as a home for many of the world’s leading technology companies.

The data centre will be Google’s ninth, and only its third in Europe. It already has similar facilities in Belgium and Finland, as well as in six locations around the United States.

Google already employs some 2,200 people at its Irish offices, which act as its headquarters for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.