IDA Ireland has just announced that the medical company Ortec is set to establish its European headquarters in west Limerick.

The South Carolina-based firm will create up to 110 skilled engineering and science jobs in Newcastle West's business park over the "next several years" as a result.

The timeframe for those positions being filled remains vague.

Ortec manufactures customised products for the medical devices, pharmaceuticals and other health-related sectors.

The company is to move into a 13,000 sq foot facility in Newcastle West and will double the size of the plant in the coming months, subject to planning permission.

According to the Ortec website, founder Larry Brotherton learned hard work growing up on a farm in eastern Tennessee.

He polished his work ethic by putting himself through college and earning a PhD in chemistry. With funds from the sale of his family home, he started Ortec in 1980. It remains a privately-owned firm today.