Monday, June 20, 2005….An Tanaiste Mary Harney today was the guest of honour at the opening of the new Hosting365.ie offices in Park West.  Covering some 25,000 square feet, the new offices are reflective of the growth in ecommerce and online activity in Ireland.  Hosting365, founded in 2002, is the single largest independent hosting company in Ireland with more than 17% percent of the total market.  

An Tanaiste, in whose constituency Park West resides, said:

“Dynamic companies such as Hosting365 are fundamental to our continued success in the global market, not only in vanilla IT operations but across a range of enterprises that might not necessarily be associated with IT.  This can be clearly demonstrated by customers of Hosting365 which range from property portals such as Daft.ie, to financial sites, the Irish Stock Exchange, across to entertainment sites such as The Balloon man. 

“Effective use of the internet by enterprises is a key element in building competitiveness. Enterprise, whether traditional or new, can create competitive advantage through strategic use of technology in general and the internet in particular. The Government continues to support, through its Agencies, a number of initiatives aimed at encouraging and assisting SMEs, including micro-enterprises, across all sectors of the economy, to use technology in a way that will maximise their competitive advantage.

“Hosting365 is an important cog in this process and we are delighted to open its new offices and witness its impressive growth,” she concluded.

Stephen McCarron, managing director of Hosting365, thanked the Tanaiste for opening the new offices and expressed admiration for her early championing of ecommerce in Ireland:  “We certainly have benefited from the introduction of a range of legislation under the guidance of An Tanaiste in her previous role as Minister for Enterprise,” he says. 

“In particular, the introduction of the Electronic Commerce Act in 2000 created a legal framework to facilitate the growth of e-business in Ireland.  This Act established legal recognition of e-business transactions in most areas of business and private law by giving the same status to electronic signatures, electronic originals, electronic writing and electronic contracts as paper-based counterparts. Ireland was among the first countries in the world to bring forward such legislation.

“This was followed up in 2003 when she signed Regulations to bring into effect provision of the EU’s Electronic Commerce Directive.  The 2003 Regulations provided for the free movement of Information Society services within the European Economic Area.

“These milestones combined with an active and supportive government have enabled us, along with a plethora of like minded technologists, to jump on the Internet highway and create a thriving business. 

“The customers of Hosting365 enjoy easy access to global markets backed by forward thinking legislation under Irish law.  This is a great combination and we applaud An Tanaiste and the government for their continued support of the Irish ecommerce industry.”

Ends