Ultralase chief executive Tony Veverka: 'The final piece in our jigsaw would be a clinic on the west coast'

ONE of Britain's largest laser eye surgery providers, Ultralase, is planning to open a new clinic in the Galway region despite a significant drop-off in demand for such procedures due to the recession.

The company, which is owned by private equity house 3i, already has clinics here in Waterford, Cork, Limerick and Dublin and its chief executive Tony Veverka told the Sunday Tribune that it now hoped to gain access to the western market.

"The final piece in our jigsaw would be to have a clinic on the west coast, with Galway being our preferred location," he said.

In recent months, two of the country's leading providers of eye surgery, Optilase and Eye Laser Ireland, have gone into examinership. Both companies successfully emerged from the process, with Eye Laser Ireland being acquired by Ultralase from the examiner in July for around €3m.

The British firm had previously attempted to purchase Optilase, and Veverka said this reflected its belief in the long-term potential of the Irish market, despite the recession. "We have sufficient size and scale to help us during the downturn – you have to remember that our main market, Britain, has been experiencing its own downturn. While some Irish suppliers are going out of business, we believe there is still a demand for our services," he said.

"Past experience tells us that there's a strong correlation between our business and economic activity. Laser eye surgery is a discretionary purchase and a big-ticket one at that. But we find that people only defer their treatment, which leads to bubbles of pent-up demand after a recession ends."