Life sciences group Olympus Diagnostica has agreed to invest €5 million to expand research and development facilities at its plant in Co Clare.

The investment, announced yesterday by the Tánaiste and Minster for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, will create jobs for 22 biochemists at Olympus Diagnostica's O'Callaghan Mills plant.

Olympus, part of the Japanese Olympus Optical Company, currently employs 215 people in Clare, where it has had a presence since 1982.

The new investment will substantially upgrade the R&D capabilities of the Irish operation. It will allow the Irish workforce pursue opportunities for the group in the field of immunoassay systems, which is a growing element of the market in the analysis of blood and urine.

"Olympus Diagnostica makes an important contributions to the economy of Co Clare," said Ms Harney. She added it was a "considerable vote of confidence in the management and workforce and will further consolidate the facility and increase its role in the group's global business strategy of the future".

The cash injection will see the Clare plant assuming sole responsibility within Olympus for the development, pilot manufacturing, regulatory approval and commercial manufacturing of the new immunoassay reagents.

The jobs effectively add 50 per cent to the current R&D workforce at O'Callaghan Mills. The plant manufactures all Olympus's output of clinical chemistry reagents for the in-vitro diagnostic market worldwide.