Accounting software firm Sage has announced plans to locate a new European base in Dublin which will create 300 new jobs over the next two years.

The UK-based company said Dublin had been chosen over 10 other European cities because of its digital infrastructure and multilingual workforce.

Europe’s second largest technology company produces accounting, payments and payroll software primarily for small business.

Its new Sandyford centre will provide marketing and sales support to its 1.8 million European client base.

The group already employs 14,000 staff across 24 countries, including 250 at its two Dublin offices in City West and Dún Laoghaire.

The new jobs, aimed at tech savy business graduates, will be in a range of areas including marketing, sales and services.

Welcoming the announcement, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said Ireland’s reputation as a centre of software excellence was unrivalled in Europe, noting that nine of the top ten international companies in the sector were already located here.

“Today’s announcement of 300 new jobs by Sage in establishing their new centre in Ireland will be a huge boost to our national mission of securing and embedding the recovery,” Mr Kenny said.

Tánaiste Joan Burton said Sage’s decision to more than double its existing Irish workforce represented “a massive statement of confidence in this country’s future”.

Sage, whose software is used by more than six million small businesses, reported a 9 per cent jump in profit to £192 million for the six months to the end of March this year. It is the UK’s biggest software group by market capitalisation.

Alan Laing, Sage’s executive vice president of global strategic partnerships and alliances, told The Irish Times that the proximity of its main business partners, including Salesforce, made Dublin an ideal location for the new centre as did the availability of multilingual staff.

He said the Republic’s preferential tax rates had nothing to do with the decision to locate here, noting the company was a UK plc.

“The only tax we pay in Ireland will be for the Irish business. We’ve not driven by the tax incentive,” he said.

The IDA’s Martin Shanahan said Sage was one of the fastest-growing technology company in the world right now.