Internet retailer Amazon.com will employ 450 people at its new Irish support center, which will help customers on its British and French Web sites, the online auctioneer said Monday.

“As our business has grown, and as we have expanded the categories of products we offer, we need to expand our customer service support as well,” said Marc Onetto, Amazon (nasdaq: AMZN - news - people )’s senior vice president of worldwide operations.

“The Cork center, with its strategic location and highly skilled work force, enables us to grow with the business and provide our many millions of European customers with an improved level of service,” he said.

The Irish government’s Investment and Development Agency offered Amazon.com Inc. a confidential package of aid to woo it to Ireland rather than Britain, France or a low-tax rival in Eastern Europe.

Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Micheal Martin said Amazon’s arrival in Ireland “enhances Ireland’s reputation as a base for the most sophisticated global digital-media companies.”

Posted: 04|23|07 at 1:13 pm. Filed under: Auction News.