Facebook has announced that it is to locate its European headquarters in Dublin. In an announcement on its home page they revealed that up to 14 jobs would be created in their landmark offices to be located in St Stephen’s Green.

The Irish Sentinel has learned that due to the economic downturn the government have decided against the redevelopment of the picturesque Dublin park which is due to undergo renovations as construction of Metro North begins at the end of the year. Up to 20% of the park will be lost as tunnelling starts, 45 mature trees will be felled, a large part of the pond is to boarded over and the Fusilier’s Arch taken away.

The shape of things to come?

Originally the plan was to replace the monuments and restore the trees and pond to their former glory but rising costs have forced a rethink.

“That’d be mad money to spend”, said Nigel Cox of the Office of Public Works. “It was going to cost a fortune to put those things back so we’ve decided the best thing to do is to store it all out in one of those self-storage places off the M50.

Then to raise the money to put them back we’re going to install a number of pre-fabricated offices on the site and Facebook have been one of the first to avail of such a prestigious location. Of course, the other option is to sell off the naming rights to the arch, thus providing the funds for its reinstallation. While I don’t want to jump the gun, as these kinds of negotiations are very delicate, we are hopeful that a deal can be done with Facebook while Aldi have also expressed an interest”.

Meanwhile Facebook’s impending arrival has sparked a job rush, the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Ford opened their factory in Cork in 1905.

“I can’t wait”, said Mary Mulvagh, “I use Facebook all the time, it’s great. I don’t even have to talk to the person who sits beside me any more, I simply leave a message on their super-wall, so to work there would be a dream come true”.

“Everyone I know is on Facebook”, said another man, “so to work there and to be a proper, genuine, 100% bonafide Facebooker would be the best thing ever”.

It is believed the company is initially looking to recruit people in the marketing, advertising, administration and zombie application sectors with further vacancies due to be advertised in the months to come.

: We asked Dubliners if they’d like a job with Facebook.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.