RTÉ News has learned that the US internet search engine, Google, is to locate its European headquarters in Dublin.
Google is one of the leading companies in the internet sector in the world.
Search engines help you find internet sites by using key words and Google is the leading search engine on the Net. It is estimated that over half of all internet searches use Google technology.
The company, which is privately-owned, employs just over 500 people and is headquartered in California.
There has been considerable speculation over the past few weeks that Google would make an annoucement about the location of its planned European headquarters.
The IDA and its Swiss counterpart have been battling for an investment that would be as important symbolically as it would be for jobs.
Ironically, it is the downturn in the tech sector here which has freed up capacity at data centres in Dublin which could house part of the incredible three billion internet pages Google says it has indexed.
The spare capacity is thought to have been a key factor in clinching the deal.
A spokesman for the IDA had no comment to make but industry sources suggest an announcement could be made as early as today.
