The Irish county of Fingal is set to receive a much needed employment boost after car hire giant Hertz announced plans to create up to 100 new jobs at the Swords Business Park outside of Dublin.

Seeking to expand its European services, Hertz, the world’s largest rental car organisation, will upgrade Dublin operations at the Swords based rental centre. The announcement was made at the centre by Mary Coughlan, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Coughlan highlighted the successful partnership that the Dublin area and Hertz have had over the years as testament to the strong work ethic of the local community, and welcomed renewed investment.

Included in the planned expansion are improvements to customer service counters, financial management and human resources in addition to providing enhanced support for African, Middle Eastern and European operations. The minister expressed her desire that Swords continue to solidify its position as a centre for excellence across the rental group. She also pointed to the decision as reflective of the Irish government’s ‘Smart Economy’ strategy, highlighted by high-yield financial transformation of the local economy.

Opened in 1997, the Swords centre features centralised customer support and financial services to Hertz’s corporate division in countries such as Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany, France, Switzerland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Netherlands and the UK.

The Hertz group also welcome the new plans, with staff at the service centre now being boosted by some 930 new jobs in the past few months under a range of new projects.