A TOTAL of 768 jobs are to created over the next three years by 80 small and medium sized international service companies in the Republic.

Forbairt, the State agency responsible for promoting indigenous investment, is funding the job creation with a £10.6 million grant.

The 80 companies involved in the job creation have already recruited an additional 310 people, bringing overall job creation in the sector to almost 1100.

Forbairt has also announced that is to pay £2.3 million in research and development grants to 16 companies in the services sector.

Two thirds of the companies being supported by Forbairt in the grant package announced yesterday did not exist three years ago. Their sales have grown from £50 million to £119 million over the last two years, and are expected to double again between now and 1998.

The Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Richard Bruton, said knowledge based services were know recognised as one of the main job creators of the future. "There are real trading opportunities here that are just as important as manufacturing," Mr Bruton said.

The 80 companies which are expanding their employment levels are engaged in a range of activities including software development, health care, training, data processing and telemarketing.

Forbairt has taken an equity stake in a third of the companies and has, in some cases, nominated independent individuals to serve on their boards.

The largest single expansion in at the Bray Co Wicklow software development company, International Translation and Publishing, which is adding 200 new employees.

One of the smaller expansions is at Ossian Publications in Cork, which is involved in specialist music publishing.

Founded in 1978, Ossian now publishes 100 books on Irish and Scottish traditional music, and the company has also released more than 110 titles on its own record label.

It currently employs eight people and is taking on another five staff.