BLUEBIRD CARE, a homecare provider, is to create 520 jobs across Ireland over the next six months.
Elsewhere, a medical device company called Cambus Teo is to create 35 jobs in Co Galway by the end of next year.
The jobs at Bluebird Care will be created throughout the country and the majority of positions will be full time, according to operations director for Ireland Eddie O’Toole.
The Health Service Executive-approved franchise has 18 offices in Ireland, employing almost 800 people, and it is to open two more offices, in Westmeath and Wexford.
Recruitment has already begun for some of the care work and support staff jobs, which have a minimum education requirement of Fetac level 5.
The increased requirement for care staff for older people is partly as a result of the company winning a number of public and private tender contracts for enhanced care, including those from the HSE.
The executive currently spends €140 million a year on homecare packages and it began a tender process last December for the provision of enhanced homecare packages. Mr O’Toole said the increased demand for care staff was also due to demographics.
“Currently, approximately half a million people are over 65. By 2036 that is expected to grow to 1.3 million.”
There is going to be “more demand for care services going forward”, he said.
In Ireland and throughout Europe the emphasis is on the benefits of people continuing to live at home, he said.
Statistics showed that people lived longer when living at home, in the community, with friends and family nearby, he said.
Bluebird Care began in the UK in 2004 and in the company has 150 offices there. It began operating in Ireland in 2007.
The recruitment process is expected to take some time because there is a requirement for Garda vetting as well as for induction and training.
The Cambus Teo jobs will be in engineering, production and management.
The firm, which currently employs 50 people, is based in the Gaeltacht area of Spiddal and is supported by Údarás na Gaeltachta.
Established in 2006, Cambus Teo develops, designs, and manufactures components for a number of minimally invasive medical devices.
Half of the company has been acquired by Helix Medical, a global medical device provider, whose investment has allowed for the jobs expansion.
