Nearly 300 jobs are being announced at three companies this morning.

Customer service provider Eishtec is taking on 200 people over the next six months at its operations in Tipperary.

Recruitment for the jobs in Clonmel is now underway.

Eishtec has been supported by the Department of Jobs through Enterprise Ireland, and already employs 1,300 people across its sites in Waterford, Wexford and Craigavon.

The jobs created will provide customer service support for the UK market.

Elsewhere, Bluefin Payment Systems is opening a Technology and Operations Centre in Waterford city and will be hiring 40 people over the next three to five years.

While US security company CipherTechs Inc. is establishing its EMEA headquarters in Kilkenny - with the creation of 36 new jobs over five years.

Both developments are supported by the Department of Jobs through IDA Ireland.

Bluefin CEO John M Perry said: "The dynamic business environment in the Republic of Ireland made choosing it for our first European location an easy decision".

"Our focus is on cutting-edge consumer data security technologies. Our Waterford location will be critical to our operations in North America and as we expand into Europe at a time when more and more companies are partnering with Bluefin to protect themselves from hackers and damaging data breaches".

While Jobs Minister Richard Bruton told Newstalk Lunchtime this is great news for the region.