Irish e-learning company HMH is to create 450 jobs over five years at a €350m euro research and development centre, to be located in the greater Dublin area.
The initiative is being backed by the Government and is the single largest research and development project in the history of the state.
Recruitment for 200 high value posts is underway and the company is promising to deliver 250 more jobs within five years.
HMH, the company behind the project, used to be known as Riverdeep. Founded by Barry O'Callaghan, it was one of the stars of the Celtic Tiger era. Recently a series of mergers created a much expanded company with annual global revenues of $2.5 billion. It has 6,000 employees worldwide.
HMH says its R&D centre here will focus on digital learning for children. The project is being backed by Enterprise Ireland because of the strong export potential and value of the learning tools it will produce.
Currently elearning exports from Ireland are estimated at €250m annually. It is hoped this development will increase that figure many times over.
The company said its decision to centralise all its development in the new centre is based on the fact that Dublin provides the best hub located uniquely between east and west.
