Around €100 million is to be invested in two major projects in Dundalk after the town council agreed to contravene existing zoning to allow planning permission be granted.
The largest investment, close to €80 million, will be in the construction of a new shopping centre, to be located on a 24- acre greenfield site at Ramparts Road, close to the town centre.
It will provide close to 600 jobs when complete and an additional 150 during construction.
The centre is a joint venture by Fyffes and the Lagan Group and will include 42 shop units and restaurant as well as 1,350 car-parking spaces, a stand-alone fast food outlet, petrol station and ancillary works.
Seven objections or submissions were lodged with Dundalk Town Council in relation to the development.
The conditions attached to the planning permission seek to have the new centre linked with the existing retailers in the town centre and it will be a short walk from the town centre.
The second investment, estimated at around €20 million, will be by JJB Sports and Leisure as the anchor tenant of a 19,500-square-metre development at Dundalk Retail Park just off the main Dublin-Belfast road.
The leisure facility will include a soccer dome, 16 indoor soccer pitches, sports area, the sale of sports clothing and shoes, a sports bar and coffee bar.
Reacting yesterday, Mr Rodd Bond, president of Dundalk Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber had not objected to the JJB proposal but had made a submission to the council on the shopping centre. "We believe the new centre will be more successful if it integrates better into the town centre and to that end we believe a proper planning framework and a town centre manager are needed."