The Irish Times reports that Japanese medical device company Goodman Medical is to create more than 100 high-end jobs in Galway over the next five years. The new jobs are part of a EUR1.1 million investment by the Japanese company, and the new positions will be in manufacturing, sales and marketing, and research and development. The investment is supported by IDA Ireland.

The Irish Times reports that HP has confirmed it is to create 105 high-tech jobs at its Galway operation. The jobs, which will be in Ballybrit, are based around enterprise data architecture, application development and software engineering and testing. Between 50 and 70 of the positions will be filled immediately. The investment is being supported by IDA Ireland.

The Irish Times reports that social network Facebook is to create 100 jobs at its Dublin base next year. Facebook will grow staff numbers at its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) headquarters in Dublin by one-third over the next year, a spokeswoman for the company said. The company currently employs 200 people in Dublin, working in advertising, multilingual sales support, finance, human resources, user operations and development. It is understood the new positions will be gradually created across these areas over the coming 12 months.

The Irish Times reports that consulting firm Accenture is to create 100 jobs over the next four years at a new centre in Ireland dedicated to predictive analytics, the use of statistics to help businesses forecast future revenues. The new jobs will take Accenture’s workforce in Ireland to 1,400. Brian McCarthy, executive director of Accenture Analytics, said the company had begun the recruitment process for the high-level research jobs, which will be filled by graduate to PhD-level candidates with a background in statistics, data management and related disciplines.

The Irish Times reports that UCC is on target to spin out four companies this year, the latest being ThinkSmart Technologies. ThinkSmart, which has licensed technology developed at the Cork Constraint Computing Centre (4C) in UCC, has the potential to create 30 new jobs over the next four years, according to Chief Executive Brendan O’Brien. ThinkSmart has already signed up a Fortune 500 company as a customer for its optimisation technology, which allows large companies to make the best use of limited resources.

The Irish Times reports that online sports betting firm Betfair has announced plans to create up to 100 jobs at a new office in Dublin. Betfair said it intends to open a new data centre and relocate some of its UK customer operations teams to Ireland early next year. The company has already commenced a recruitment process to fill the posts. It said existing staff in the UK would also have the option to relocate to Dublin, but it was not yet clear exactly how many people would be interested in taking up this option.

The Irish Times says that Northern Ireland software firm Lagan Technologies has been acquired by a California-based group, Kana Software, in a deal estimated to be worth more than STG29 million. Kana Software, which is owned by Accel-KKR, a technology-focused private equity firm, said a “definitive agreement” has been signed between the two companies. Belfast is set to become Kana’s European headquarters as a result of the take over, a move that has the potential to create up to 100 new jobs at Lagan’s headquarters in the city.

The Irish Times says that Northern Ireland software firm Lagan Technologies has been acquired by a California-based group, Kana Software, in a deal estimated to be worth more than STG29 million. Kana Software, which is owned by Accel-KKR, a technology-focused private equity firm, said a “definitive agreement” has been signed between the two companies. Belfast is set to become Kana’s European headquarters as a result of the take over, a move that has the potential to create up to 100 new jobs at Lagan’s headquarters in the city.

The Irish Times reports that mobile phone accessory maker Otterbox is to create 50 jobs in Cork over the next two years when it establishes its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) headquarters in the city. The jobs will be in sales, customer service, accounting, engineering, public relations, marketing, web design, graphics, supply chain, human resources and warehousing.

The Irish Times reports that software auditing firm iQuate plans to create 25 jobs over the next 12 months on the back of an increased sales pipeline. The new roles will include software development, implementation, project management and sales. The company provides an auditing tool for users of Oracle database software

The Irish Times reports that shared services centres in Ireland have the potential to create significant new employment, as research from Accenture says that management at 48 percent of them expect to increase their number of employees next year. The research, carried out in association with IDA Ireland and the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, found there were now 140 such centres in Ireland, employing 35,000 staff. Shared services centres typically provide functions such as technical support, finance and accounting, human resources and payroll to their parent organisation in a number of countries.

The Irish Times reports says that Carlow-based TSL Marketing is planning significant growth for the coming year on the back of strong tech markets in central Europe and the Far East. TSL opened offices in Budapest last May and Warsaw this week, bringing its worldwide presence to nine locations. Next year it plans to open new offices in Singapore and Beijing. TSL managing director Mike Kelly expects employee numbers to increase substantially. “By this time next year we expect to have just over 300 people. Most of the jobs will be based outside Ireland — in central Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East,” he said. The company will fund the expansion through its own revenues.