The fact that AiC have chosen Ireland as their first European venue is, I hope not a coincidence but a reflection of the importance of Ireland which has 35% of all pan European Call Centres.

The potential opportunities for Ireland in the Call Centre sector were first recognized in 1992 when a target to create 2,000 jobs by 1997 was set by the IDA. Since then the sector has grown dramatically. There are currently over 50 call centres with more than 6,000 employees. Growth is expected to continue with employment set to almost double the current level by the end of the year 2000.

In addition to these 50 centres, a number of Irish companies also have call centres servicing the European market such as Aer Lingus, Conduit Software, Fexco and Ryanair. There are also some large call centres serving the domestic market in sectors such as banking, insurance and telecommunications. These call centres also provide significant levels of employment in a growing industry.

Call centre activities vary depending on the nature of a company's business. Activities carried out in Ireland range from sales and customer service or technical support activities in companies like Gateway 2000, IBM, Dell and Compaq, to airline reservations for American Airlines, Lufthansa and Korean Airlines.

Many of the companies with call centres in Ireland are blue chip companies in their own fields which individually provide significant numbers of jobs. Gateway 2000, IBM, UPS, Citibank, Compaq, Dell, American Airlines, Hertz, Digital, Oracle and AOL/Bertelsmann all employ in excess of 300 people, and some of these employ substantially more.

It is clear from the phenomenal success of the sector that IDA Ireland's foresight was well-founded. I congratulate IDA on this success. I am sure Brendan Halpin from IDA who will be speaking to you later will explain how they did it.

The main reasons why companies choose Ireland as their call centre base include our young well-educated workforce and our telecommunications infrastructure. Obviously the booming economy and tax incentives are also an attraction.

The Call Centre industry, enabled by the rapid developments in Information and Communications Technologies and driven by the cost savings which can be made by centralising operations, is a relatively new industry. As such, it is important that we in Government pay close attention to the issues that will help it to grow and prosper.

For the employers, there is the issue of recruiting and retaining suitable staff. I see that this issue will be covered later this morning. The Government is addressing the recruitment problem on two fronts. Firstly, with a three year information campaign in our schools to encourage young people to take up jobs in this rapidly expanding industry. And secondly, by the setting up of a new post-Leaving Certificate teleservices diploma course in 35 colleges throughout Ireland. This is a two-year full time course, with a European language and a six-month overseas placement in the language taken. Over 1,000 people are now taking this course.

On the issue of staff retention, many companies are addressing this by providing career paths so that staff can move up to supervisory and management posts or into marketing. They are also providing training so that employees can eventually move into support roles or even become software engineers.

And the perception that Call centres pay badly and are poor employers is misplaced. For front-line telephone support, salaries commence in the range of £10-14K pa. and there are many positions in call centres that involve people management, project management, technical positions looking after the IT infrastructure etc. - these positions pay salary rates comparable to any other industry.

As there is explosive growth in the call centre industry, there are many opportunities for employment open to people of all qualification levels.

The facilities in call centres tend to be very good. A lot of time and money is spent ensuring that there is a comfortable working environment

Many who start out their careers in the call centre industry progress to more senior and managerial positions quite quickly. Many companies will satisfy the majority of their promotional opportunities with internal candidates.

I would encourage all employers in the call centre sector to adopt the highest possible employment standards.

It is the Government's policy to encourage industries to establish outside of major urban centres. Call Centres, because they are independent of location, can serve to fulfil this objective.

During the early growth phase of the teleservices industry in Ireland, call centres were located in and around the Dublin area. Today, new companies are locating elsewhere. For example, the establishment in Cork of Merchants Group and RCI, and DER in Galway, demonstrates this regionalisation trend. Most recently, Rosenbluth International, one of the world's largest corporate travel firms, announced a 250-person pan European call centre project for Killarney, Co. Kerry.

In summary, the numbers now employed in the teleservices industry in Ireland and projected employment growth trends demonstrate the importance of the industry in this economy. The range and breadth of call centre activity is also increasing as the industry matures. Developments in the educational and telecommunications infrastructure are supporting this development and working to ensure the sustainability of the sector in Ireland into the next century.