Apple will add 1,000 positions for manufacturing, customer service in Ireland

Posted:
in General Discussion edited November 2015
In a visit to Dublin on Wednesday, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook revealed that his company will hire 1,000 new employees at its international operations in Cork, Ireland, bringing the total number of workers there to 6,000, some of which are locally assembling Apple hardware.


Tim Cook and FineGael party leader Enda Kenny, via Twitter.


The new hires will be related to manufacturing, customer care, finance, and global supply chain management, according to Irish public broadcaster RTE. The positions are expected to be filled by mid-2017, to be located in a new building at the company's existing Holyhill site in Cork.

Apple also announced it has partnered with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland to research offshore energy technology. The iPhone maker also revealed plans to establish a 1-million-euro Ocean Energy Industry Fund, which will research capturing wave energy to power its facilities in the country.

Cook was also recognized by the Philosophical Society at Trinity College Dublin, which awarded him with its Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage.

During his trip to Ireland, Cook was also set to issue a live address to Apple employees streamed all over the world, according to the Evening Echo.


Apple manufacturing operations in Cork, Ireland.


Local officials praised Cook during the visit, saying that his endorsement of Cork will help put their city on the map for other corporations.

"When the largest company in the world supporting the best known brand on the planet decides to significantly increase their footprint and investment in Cork," Minister Simon Coveney reportedly said to the Echo, "it is a signal of confidence and an endorsement in the Irish economy and Cork city as a great place to build an international business."

Rumors of an Apple expansion in Cork first surfaced back in May, suggesting Apple was looking to improve its facilities there in response to overwhelming global demand for its products. The Cupertino, Calif., company already spent over $300 million on an expansion nearly two years ago, and it is also working on a $950 million datacenter in Galway.

Apple has an iMac assembly line at its Cork facilities, which is currently the only Apple-owned factory in the world. Cork-based employees also handle administration for Apple operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Apple's close relationship with Ireland is under scrutiny by the European Commission, which alleges that the company's customized tax agreement runs afoul of EU laws. An initial judgement was expected in June, but has been delayed as discovery proves "time consuming."

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Don't get me started on that out-of-touch idiot running/ruining our country to Cook's right. And still no Apple Store :-(
  • Reply 2 of 11
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post



    Don't get me started on that out-of-touch idiot running/ruining our country to Cook's right. And still no Apple Store :-(



    "...ruining our country to Cook's right" ?

     

    Do tell.  I thought Apple was very important and had been instrumentally good for Ireland's economy.

  • Reply 3 of 11

    seems like substantial operations to say the least EU!

     

    EU is so desperate that they threatened Apple ....... maybe they look over here and have seen what our gov't has done to banks last 7 years.

     

    Tim Cook - I salute you - great workers in Ireland (I am not Irish FYI) - this is a fantastic base for Apple in Europe.

     

    EU - forget it - structure your fiscal and monetary policy correctly - maybe get workers to work actually for around 48 weeks per year 40 hours a week (we do more Europe!!)  ....

     

    Apple is not your deep pocket.  If you make a try - then EU you risk SUBSTANTIAL salaries / investment by Apple and US business in Europe.

     

    This is big-time Apple investment - and is "real"

  • Reply 4 of 11
    User 'ireland' is referring to Enda Kenny, the Irish Primeminister, who is to the right of Cook in the first photo. He is a divisive figure in Irish politics to say the least.

    Kenny is not popular amongst a section of the electorate but with positive and strengthening economics in Ireland, he's not going anywhere in the immediate future.

    As they say you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.
  • Reply 5 of 11
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by skipdeedy View Post



    ... As they say you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.

     

    OK.  Understood.  Thanks.

  • Reply 6 of 11
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post

    An initial judgement was expected in June, but has been delayed as discovery proves "time consuming."

     

    Does anyone else read this as "we can't find anything illegal Apple is doing"?

  • Reply 7 of 11
    kpluckkpluck Posts: 500member

    Wow...and all this time I thought the only thing Apple made in Ireland was tax loopholes. <img class=" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" />

     

    -kpluck

  • Reply 8 of 11
    Perhaps Apple and other companies will make it worth Ireland's troubles to tell the EU to "jog on". I've no idea why any EU member country continues to prop up that politically corrupted system.
  • Reply 9 of 11
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    skipdeedy wrote: »
    User 'ireland' is referring to Enda Kenny, the Irish Primeminister, who is to the right of Cook in the first photo. He is a divisive figure in Irish politics to say the least.

    Kenny is not popular amongst a section of the electorate but with positive and strengthening economics in Ireland, he's not going anywhere in the immediate future.

    As they say you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.

    I'd like to be able to laugh at that. He's an atrocious leader.
  • Reply 10 of 11
    How does Apple decide where retail stores go? They have had a presence in Ireland for years, and now they are expanding, but not in retail. Belfast has a store, but none any where in Ireland? Turkey but not Ireland? Really?
  • Reply 11 of 11
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marktrek View Post



    How does Apple decide where retail stores go? They have had a presence in Ireland for years, and now they are expanding, but not in retail. Belfast has a store, but none any where in Ireland? Turkey but not Ireland? Really?



    Ahrendts in a recent interview is quoted to have said she's asked her retail team to assemble a list of the 100 most populated cities by 2025. This seems to me a little misguided. Dublin gets huge numbers of tourists yearly and a huge number or temporary international dwellers and students. To not have even a single official retail store in Dublin seems crazy. H&M took an amazing building over this year in Dublin that would have been perfectly suited as a flagship Apple Retail Store. It was lying dormant for several years from what I can tell. Apple should have taken it. Everyone in Ireland shops in Dublin every year too, the store would have been constantly packed to the gills with customers.

     

    Here's the new H&M store (centrally located):

     

     

     

    Literally takes up a full building, covering both sides of a block (two entrances) and three floors (plus attic). It would have been a perfect Dublin Apple Store. It's an historical building too with a luxurious exterior and high rococo ceilings. Missed opportunity, Apple.

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