Contact lens maker Johnson & Johnson Vison is create 200 additional jobs at its Limerick plant.
The company said it was investing €35million in the operation in Castletroy, which has the potential to create up to 200 new jobs over the next three years.
It already employs 1,600 staff at the Limerick plant, which is one of the largest contact lens manufacturing facilities in the world.
The additional investment will enable the firm to expand its product portfolio for intraocular lenses for cataract patients.
Recruitment of 120 additional staff spread across Johnson & Johnson’s labs, automation, engineering, and quality control areas has already begun, it said.
Another 80 will be employed in constructing an extension to the Limerick plant.
Johnson & Johnson's operations director John Fitzgibbon said: "Nearly 2.2 billion people around the world face impaired vision, and approximately 20 per cent (200 million) people worldwide suffer vision impairment or blindness caused by cataract or uncorrected refractive error."
“With the growth of our manufacturing operations in Limerick we are committed to changing these statistics, helping to solve a lifetime of eye health needs with our IOLs (intraocular lenses),” he said.
Minister of State at the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Niall Collins welcomed the investment, saying "this investment by Johnson & Johnson Vision in its Limerick plant is significant, and clearly signals their desire to drive, and commit to expanding their advanced manufacturing footprint in Ireland. "
Mary Buckley, executive director, IDA Ireland said: "Today's announcement by Johnson & Johnson Vison Ireland in Limerick, is very good news for the Mid-West region and follows another significant investment at the company's Cerenovus campus in Galway last month."
“ The availability of a highly talented and skilled workforce in Ireland has enabled Johnson & Johnson’s ambitious expansion plans,” she said.
