Two IDA-backed investments will lead to the creation of 265 jobs in the west, the Government announced yesterday.

A £14 million investment in Transitions Optical in Tuam, Co Galway, which employs 220 people, will produce a further 115 jobs at the plant. Delta Dental Plan of Minnesota, a US insurance company, is to establish a claims processing unit in Claremorris, Co Mayo, employing 150 people. Transitions Optical, established in Tuam in 1994, manufactures plastic variable tint lenses used in sunglasses for the Florida-based group's European market.

An IDA spokesman said the Co Galway plant was now the strategic operations centre for the parent company, providing its own sales, customer service, distribution and marketing operations. "Tuam is now totally driving the European operations for Transition Optical," he said.

The Minister for Science, Technology and Commerce, Mr Treacy, said the company's expansion was a indication of the strategic importance of the facility within the corporation. Meanwhile, DDPM, part of the Delta Dental Plans Association, could make cost savings of up to 40 per cent by locating in the Republic, according to the IDA. Because of the time difference, Irish subsidiaries use the Internet at US off-peak times, economising on computer costs.

Delta has a 51 per cent stake in DeCare Delta Systems Ireland in Cork, a software development centre established last year in Cork and employing 38 people.