SEVENTY JOBS are to be created at global US health benefits company Aetna in Castleisland, Co Kerry, supported by IDA Ireland.

The jobs, which will bring numbers employed at the plant to 170, will be created over the next three years and will be in the worldwide claims processing and customer services areas.

Recruitment has already begun in the company, which yesterday celebrated 20 years in the town and is now its biggest employer.

There was a broad welcome for the announcement in Kerry, where businesses, local authority officials and local politicians had complained that the county was being ignored by the IDA in favour of Cork and the east coast, particularly in recent years.

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan, who made the announcement in Castleisland, promised to bring “a different dynamic” to job creation in her ministry, and said she would pay special attention to job creation in the regions.

Aetna’s Kerry base is also the European head office for the healthcare benefits firm, one of the largest in the US, which offers benefits claims as well as health management programmes for multinational employers, government agencies and individuals.

Martha Temple, president, Aetna Global Benefits, said the Castleisland plant had gained “an excellent reputation” within the company as having a highly skilled and productive workforce.