Expansion by US companies will bring more than 100 new jobs to the South-East.

Thirty new scientific jobs will be created in Waterford through a €17 million (£13.39 million) expansion of Bausch & Lomb's existing facility in the town. And 80 jobs will be created initially with the opening of PFPC International's second Irish operation in Wexford. PFPC, which deals in non-US domiciled funds, already has a base in Dublin. It hopes to employ more than 200 at the new operation in Wexford Business Park, Drinagh within two years.

The IDA-backed Bausch & Lomb investment will see the contact lens developer and manufacturer establish a specialised research project involving analytical chemists, microbiologists and other highly skilled personnel.

The new project will concentrate on the development of a drug-delivery system for the treatment of blinding, back-of-the-eye diseases such as diabetic macular edema, a major cause of vision loss in diabetics. The products involved are currently in advanced clinical trials and have received "fast-track" approval status in the US. The research initiative will be housed in a 16,000 sq ft unit attached to Bausch & Lomb's existing contact lens manufacturing unit.

Welcoming the development, the Tánaiste, Ms Harney said the Bausch & Lomb expansion would enhance the company's ability to attract future research projects from its parent company and thus provide long-term sustainability for the Waterford plant.

"This is exactly the kind of investment that the Government and IDA Ireland want for the client base of overseas companies already located here," she said.

Bausch & Lomb, established in Waterford since 1980, currently employs 1,800 people in the area. The facility is the largest manufacturing plant within the Bausch & Lomb corporation.