The removal of the restriction on the size of retail warehouses will apply to the eight places outside Dublin designated as "gateway" towns and cities in the National Spatial Strategy, the Government has said.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Roche, said the local authorities in each location would be empowered from next month to include such warehouses in special planning schemes for urban renewal.
The measure clears the way for a development by Swedish retailer Ikea in Ballymun, north Dublin, and for possible developments by US retail giant Costco Wholesale.
At a Dublin press conference, the Minister said it would be open to local authorities to develop integrated area plans where their existing planning schemes were not suitable for the warehouses. The change will apply to Dublin's four local authority areas, along with Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick-Shannon.
It will also apply to towns such as Dundalk, Letterkenny, Sligo and the Athlone-Tullamore- Mullingar triangle, an area also designated as a gateway.
The Minister described the measure as a "controlled measure" to deliver significant benefits to Irish consumers.
The Cabinet sanctioned the change yesterday after the Government recently failed to back an earlier proposal which would have ringfenced the change around the Ikea development at Ballymun.
The wider initiative was agreed after concerns emerged that a ringfenced proposal would discriminate against other groups whose plans for warehouse developments would have been blocked by restrictions that no longer applied to Ikea in north Dublin.
Mr Roche denied the change meant the Government had given preferential treatment to Ikea, whose planned store at Ballymun is adjacent to the M50.
The Minister said he had not met Ikea or any other commercial group that had expressed an interest in developing warehouse superstores in Ireland. These included US retail giant Costco Warehouse and the B&Q DIY chain, he said. Walmart, the warehouse group which has a major network in the US, made no approach to the Government.
"The changes that I have introduced would not facilitate that company," said the Minister.
Stating that Walmart sold food, he said the new measure referred only to sellers of durable goods.
He made little of claims by domestic retailers that they would be driven out of business by incoming warehouse owners offering sharp discounts on price.
With 80,000 houses built last year, Mr Roche said there was more than enough business for furniture retailers to share.
He recalled reading newspaper clippings in which retailers in central Dublin claimed the development of town centres in Tallaght and Blanchardstown would close down the city centre.
Mr Roche did not believe that IDA Ireland would try to encourage warehouse retailers to Ireland for employment purposes. The change was framed to ensure any new developments would contribute to the Government's urban renewal objectives, he said.
The measure will relax a condition in the retail guidelines in effect since 2001 which restrict the maximum floor area of any one retail outlet to 6,000 sq m gross.
There would be no upper limit on the size of developments under the scheme, he said.
Ikea: by the numbers
€12.8bn: Worldwide sales for 2004 financial year (September 1st 2003 - August 31st 2004)
29: Countries with Ikea stores (including, outside Europe, the US, China, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Japan, Israel and Russia).
Top 5: Countries with highest sales: 1, Germany; 2, UK; 3, US; 4, France; 5, Sweden.
Top 5: Countries where the products are sourced: 1, China; 2, Poland; 3, Sweden; 4, Italy; 5, Germany.
3 - Most popular furniture items currently on sale in UK outlets (according to Ikea spokesman): Klippan Sofa - £175, Rakke wardrobe - £199, Billy Bookcase - £35
