Superquinn is to recruit 200 staff for a new 3,200 sq metre supermarket in Dundalk, Co Louth which is due to open next February.

The supermarket will be situated in the Carroll Village shopping area, on the site of the old Carroll's tobacco factory.

Last night, the chief executive of Superquinn, Senator Feargal Quinn, said Dundalk would be the prototype for a new kind of Superquinn store.

He said it would specially focus on selling large numbers of prepared meals and would try to appeal to people who regularly ate out. He said the biggest challenge would be in recruiting enough suitable employees, adding that in the last three years the number of available staff had reduced sharply.

The company plans to circulate a brochure advertising the 200 positions to 60,000 people living in Dundalk and the surrounding region.

He added that he expected significant business to be generated for the supermarket from Northern Ireland, mainly because of the strength of sterling.