THE Irish software company, CBT, is to expand its Dublin workforce by 200, bringing the number of employees to 320 by 1998.

The company also said yesterday that its third quarter financial report showed a revenue increase of 62 per cent on the same period last year.

The announcements were made at the company's new research and development centre in Clonskeagh, Co Dublin, which was formally opened yesterday.

Speaking at the opening, the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Bruton, said the new jobs would be well paid, professional positions.

He said half would be staffed by creative personnel, such as graphic artists, writers and editors, who would not normally be expected to find work in a software company.

"This is a very exciting development for the only Irish software computer services company to have listed on the NASDAQ market," Mr Bruton said.

"The company's decision to locate its R&D in Ireland demonstrates our increasingly competitive position in securing such investments against stiff overseas competition."

The firm's chairman and chief executive, Mr Bill McCabe, said the education segment of the information technology business was a high growth area. Currently valued at $6 billion (£3.75 billion) in the United States alone, the market will be worth $12 billion by 1998, he predicted.

"There is an information revolution underway which provides immense opportunities for Irish companies across a range of IT sectors, including software, hardware and computer components."

"The real and lasting opportunity for Ireland, however, lies in the development of its own high technology companies, particularly in computer software, where the country can not just compete but exceed the best on offer worldwide."

In its third quarter financial statement yesterday, CBT said revenues during the last quarter had risen to $17 million (£10.6 million), from $10.5 million for the 1995 period. Net income (after tax profit) jumped by 113 per cent to $3.4 million, against $1.6 million.