The Coca-Cola bottling company is merging its Dublin bottling plant with its Ulster counterpart in a new single production and warehousing site in Co Antrim.
Staff at Coca-Cola Bottlers Ireland (CCBI) were informed of the development this afternoon.
Some 1,120 people are employed in bottling plants in Dublin (Naas Road) and Lisburn (Lambeg), and depots in Galway, Cork, Killarney, Tipperary and Omagh. It employs 650 staff in the Republic and it is feared some 250 jobs could be under threat.
The site of the new €80 million plant is in Knockmore Hill in Lismore, Co Antrim, and it is expected to be open in around 18 months.
The implications for jobs are not clear at this stage; however, it is understood that the plant at the Naas Road will have to close.
CCBI and CCBU are Irish subsidiaries of the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Plc, which has its headquarters in Athens, Greece.