Tánaiste Welcomes Accenture Decision to Expand its Irish Operations

Mary Harney Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment today welcomed the decision by Accenture, Ireland's leading management consulting and technology services company, that it plans to create an additional 150 jobs in Ireland before the end of the year. The announcement coincided with a visit to Chicago by the Tánaiste where she met with senior Accenture officials.

The new jobs will be concentrated in Accenture's operations in Dublin, including the company's European Service Centre.

The Tánaiste said "the company's decision to further expand its Irish operations fully reinforces our attractiveness as a key location for major high quality investors. In the face of continued economic global uncertainty companies must make sound and pragmatic decisions when it comes to investing and growing their business. Clearly over the last number of months many companies including Accenture have taken the decision that Ireland is a location where they can achieve potential growth in the future."

The new jobs are being created in response to increased demand for the company's services, and will cover a broad range of areas, including software development, web services, business process, IT outsourcing and application management.

Notes for Editors

About Accenture

Accenture is the world's leading management consulting and technology services company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them realise their visions and create tangible value. With deep industry expertise, broad global resources and proven experience in consulting and outsourcing, Accenture can mobilise the right people, skills, alliances and technologies. With more than 75,000 people in 47 countries, the company generated net revenues of $11.6 billion for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2002.

Irish Operations

Accenture has been operating in Ireland since 1969. In 2000 Accenture established a pan-European Shared Services Centre in Dublin providing back office support functions for Accenture throughout Europe. Accenture currently employs over 800 people in Ireland.

The Dublin operation is divided into two main areas of activity:

• Accenture is the largest management consultancy and technology services company in Ireland providing a full range of services to public and private sector organisations

• The European Service Centre provides a range of financial accounting, cash management, human resources, IT services and data centre support to Accenture's offices in 17 European countries and is also a showcase and global centre of knowledge for shared services.

Its home page is www.accenture.com