A multinational fire protection and security company is to establish a business services centre in Cork which is expected to create 500 over the next three years .

Tyco, the largest company of its kind in the world, closed its manufacturing facilities in the Republic five years ago with the loss of 500 jobs, but has committed to return with a new division of the business.

The new centre in Cork city is being designed to allow the company to improve efficiencies in some support functions including sourcing and procurement, customer service, research and development, information technology and finance.

Tyco has recorded annual revenue of more than $10 billion and has more than 65,000 employees in 1,000 locations in nearly 50 countries and more than 3 million customers.

Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton announced the investment, which is backed by IDA Ireland.

"Today's announcement that Tyco is establishing an operation in Cork with the potential to create more than 500 jobs is a huge boost for the city and for Ireland, " he said.

Tyco previously had manufacturing operations in Bishopstown, Cork and in Shannon where anti-theft tags and other electronic components were made up until 2008.

Tyco said it was aiming to build a local talent pool.

Phil McVey, vice-president, Tyco Business System, said: “We chose Ireland for this centre to take advantage of the country’s knowledge base and successful record of supporting operations centres like these.”

“With 140 similar centres already located here that support companies based around the world, we were attracted to Ireland’s expertise and culture of innovation, as well as the availability of a strong technical workforce that can hit the ground running to support a range of functional areas.”