Eye health company Bausch and Lomb is to open an €85m extension to its Waterford plant, creating 125 new jobs.

The company says this is to help meet the consumer demand of its contact lens portfolio.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, the parent company of Bausch and Lomb, has invested more than €200m in the Waterford facility’s operations.

The investment is being supported by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation through IDA Ireland.

The additional jobs bring the total to 300 since the facility expansion first began in 2015.

A new building has been added to a 17-acre site adjacent to its current facility.

The company currently employs 1,300 people there.

The Bausch and Lomb plant in Waterford in 2009 | Image: RollingNews.ie

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: "This major investment by Bausch and Lomb, adding an extra 125 jobs, is a big vote of confidence in this Government's ambitions for Waterford and for the future.

"This government is determined to show over the next few months and years that we can not only continue to stimulate growth, but that we are able to spread the benefit across the entire country."

Tánaiste and Enterprise Minster Frances Fitzgerald added: "This company has been a huge employer in the city for several decades and their latest investment highlights their ongoing commitment.

"Being in a regional location gives this project added significance and dovetails with the Government's work in strengthening the industrial base and job creation in regional centres, in order to achieve balanced economic growth."

The company announced 200 job losses at the plant back in 2014.