FACEBOOK IS TO hire an additional 1,000 people in Ireland this year, bringing its total workforce in the country to 5,000 employees.

The announcement was made this morning by Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg who was in Dublin as part of an industry event in Croke Park hosted by the social media giant.

Facebook has said that the new jobs will be across 60 different teams in the areas of engineering, safety, legal, policy, marketing and sales teams.

Facebook currently employees 4,000 people across four Irish locations, with its Dublin office being the biggest of the company’s locations outside of California.

The investment comes on the back of plans by Facebook to move into the Ballsbridge site in Dublin currently occupied by AIB bank.

Facebook has said this move will give them space for 5,000 more employees.

During here speech, Sandberg also spoke about Facebook’s efforts against bullying and fake news on the platform. 

One the first issue, she announced that Facebook would be tripling its investment in online safety programmes run by Ireland’s National Anti-Bullying Centre and SpunOut.ie.

Facebook says this increase would bring its total investment to €1 million and will support research as well as an online safety training programme for teachers and students. 

Sandberg reiterated what she said was the company’s commitment to “cracking down on fake accounts and false news” and “strengthening defences against election interference”.

Sandberg also said that the company would improve transparency about how it makes decisions and added that it is currently “a period of reflection” about what happens online.

“We don’t want an internet that is out of control, but we also don’t want one that is too tightly controlled where people cant express themselves,” she said. 

- With reporting by Christine Bohan