LinkedIn has announced plans to expand its international headquarters in Dublin.

The company is one of the leading employers in the Irish digital IT sector, with 600 staff here

It is to start construction work on new offices next May, which have a capacity for double that figure prompting speculation that a recruitment drive may be in the pipeline.

“With 1.2m members, Ireland is now one of LinkedIn’s top markets when it comes to member penetration. For that reason, we are extremely pleased to be announcing a further investment in Ireland and an expansion of our operational presence here,” Sharon McCooey, senior director at LinkedIn Ireland said.

“Dublin is now home to a very vibrant digital technology sector and with that comes an important ecosystem for companies like ours as well as the strong pool of talented digital professionals that we need access to in order to further grow our operations in the future,” she added.

Martin Shanahan, Chief Executive of the IDA says it's a vote of confidence in the Digital IT sector: