Minister Martin announces DeCare Systems to expand in Cork

100 new software development positions in technology services

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin TD today (Monday 16 April 2007) announced that DeCare Systems Ireland Limited is to undertake a strategic expansion of its business at the University Technology Centre, Cork. With the support of IDA Ireland, the expansion will create 100 new high level positions over five years.

DeCare Systems Ireland Ltd. is a subsidiary of DeCare International (Minnesota), one of the largest dental insurance management companies in the US. In 1998 DeCare International established a software development center in Cork to provide software and web solutions for its parent company. DeCare Ireland has fulfilled its mandate and in addition has developed substantial new business in supplying custom software and web solutions to global clients in the US and Europe.

The current expansion will increase capacity to take account of growing demand and will offer additional value added services in consultancy and software development. DeCare Ireland will expand its management group to improve identification and implementation of development opportunities.

Minister Martin said “this is excellent news for Cork as it offers new opportunities for highly qualified and experienced software people in management, development, IT services and sales and marketing. DeCare’s Cork operation has a very successful track record to date. This strategic expansion will further enhance the Irish company’s role within the overall DeCare group. DeCare’s Irish management and workforce are to be congratulated for securing these knowledge based activities. In co-operation with IDA Ireland, the company has been very proactive in developing new activities, such as Internet and e-commerce solutions. The expansion of its activities in Cork is a major strategic development, in terms of its scale and depth” Minister Martin added.

John Murphy, DeCare Systems Ireland’s General Manager said “We are very pleased with the performance of our operation in Cork and are implementing this strategic investment there because of our success to date. DeCare Systems has a world class software development team in Cork and has a proven track record in developing high quality Java and Net systems. This expansion plans to take advantage of the new opportunities arising from the growing demand for our services and our ability to offer further value-added services in consultancy and systems integration and in addition, boost the operation’s marketing function to increase our customer base.”

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Media Contacts:

Press Office, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, 01- 6312200

IDA Ireland Press Office, 01 6034000

Notes for Editors

DeCare International is the group holding company and was founded in 1969. It is a leading provider of oral health management and systems to the dental benefits industry in the US. It had sales of $758million and a profit of $ 14.7 million in 2005 and has 900 employees. It is privately owned and while it is a non-profit making organisation it has some profit making subsidiaries, these include DeCare Systems Ireland.

Premium income managed by the company has grown by 40% from $571 million in 2000 to $957 million in 2005. During this same period the number of clients grew from 3.2 million to 3.7 million. The company offers the entire spectrum of dental benefits management solutions including: Insurance, Underwriting, Product Development, Dental Network Management, Third Party Administrative Support, Claims Processing, Analytics and Web based Solutions.

DeCare International has a second company in Ireland at Claremorris, Co. Mayo since 1999. It is a claims processing operation for the group’s customers and for third parties. It currently employs 95 people.

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