The Irish subsidiary of a US dental insurance management company, DeCare International, is to create 100 software jobs in Cork over the next five years.

The expansion is being supported by IDA Ireland and the jobs will be in management, software development, consultancy, sales and marketing.

DeCare Systems Ireland (DSI) was established in 1998 to provide software to its parent group. It subsequently took on an additional remit, supplying software and web-based systems to international clients in the US and Europe. It currently employs 145 staff including contractors.

The company has also expanded beyond health insurance and has developed e-commerce and other systems for international clients such as Marks & Spencers, Expedia, Amazon and Avon.

DSI general manager John Murphy said the company was seeking a mix of technical graduates and experienced staff to meet increased demands for the company's services.

He said sales and marketing staff were also being recruited to help increase DSI's customer base.

DeCare International is the group holding company which has subsidiaries in the US and Europe. It was founded in 1969 and primarily provides health management systems for US dental insurers.

It had sales of $758 million (€560 million) and a profit of $14.7 million in 2005. It has about 900 employees and is privately held. Although the parent is a non-profit organisation, it has a number of profit-making subsidiaries, including DSI.

DeCare has a joint venture with VHI through which it offers a dental insurance product. A report by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority last year found that the product earned premium income of €1.2 million in 2005 but made an underwriting loss of €242,000.

DeCare International's chairman and chief executive is Mayo-born Michael Walsh.

DeCare has a second Irish subsidiary which is based in Claremorris, Co Mayo. It was established in 1999 and is a claims processing operation for both DeCare and third parties. It employs 95 people.