Apple to open Dublin office this year to complement expanded Cork operations

Up to 300 workers will be accommodated in Park Place, Dublin with the tech giant opening its new Hollyhill 5 building in Cork today

From left: Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Apple vice president of operations Cathy Kearney, and Lord Mayor of Cork Fergal Dennehy attend the opening of Apple’s new Hollyhill building on its Cork campus. Pictures: Apple

Apple’s vice president of operations, Cathy Kearney, said the new office development at its Cork campus in Hollyhill and new office space in Dublin will allow the tech giant to continue to evolve, with the potential for future expansion.

Apple said it will open a new office in Dublin later this year, taking permanent space in the capital for the first time. The company has had teams based in Dublin in the past, but said it will take up space in Park Place later this year with capacity for 300 staff.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Ms Kearney said the operation in Dublin would complement the variety of functions already carried out in Cork. The Hollyhill facility is responsible for shipping Apple products to over 50 countries and supports customers in more than 130 countries. As one of the State’s largest employers, more than 90 nationalities work with Apple in Cork.

Ms Kearney was speaking as Apple officially opened its new facility in Hollyhill today, which can accommodate up to 1,300 workers. Apple now employs more than 6,000 people in Ireland, primarily in Cork.

Teams began moving into Apple’s new state-of the-art Hollyhill 5 facility last June. “We’ve called Ireland home for more than 45 years, and are proud to continue expanding our operations and investing in our people and community here,” she said.

The new building follows the completion of a test and engineering facility in 2022 for testing and analysing its products. The Hollyhill campus carries out a wide variety of services, housing teams across the business, from operations, engineering, and manufacturing to procurement, customer support, and AppleCare.

Ms Kearney said growth in both Cork and Dublin will depend on the evolving needs of the company. “We have not said: ‘All of these are going to be in Dublin, this is going to be Cork’. That is not the plan. It will just be an evolution of both organisations.”

Cathy Kearney and Kristina Raspe, Apple’s vice president of places, present Mr Martin and Mr Dennehy with gifts to mark the opening of the Hollyhill building on Apple’s Cork campus.

Speaking at the opening in Cork, the Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the second location in Dublin reflects the ongoing growth of the company in Ireland and the broadening of its footprint. “Those of you who know me well, you won’t be surprised to hear that I’ve been very clear to point out that Hollyhill will, of course, always remain the real capital of Apple,” he said.

The Taoiseach said Apple came to Cork in the 1980s, which he described as a “grim” period when unemployment reached 17%.

“Apple has been part of the story of the rejuvenation of Cork, as a city to live in and as a country. It didn’t happen by accident. A large part of it was done with a focus on human capital,” the Taoiseach said.

“The contribution Apple has made in Cork and Ireland over the last 45 years cannot be overstated — creating thousands of highly-skilled roles and continually investing in their Irish operations.”

As one of Ireland’s largest employers, he said local infrastructure projects such as the planned Northern Distributor Road are important for the company, along with the local communities.

“The Apple leadership have been very clear to us that this is a challenge and they certainly want, as I do, this project accelerated,” he said. “The timing now, in the context of the Government’s own initiatives to accelerate infrastructure, couldn’t be better.”

The planned new road would connect the Carrigrohane Road to Glanmire, serving the significant population areas around the city’s northside, including Hollyhill.