Holiday firm Center Parcs is to invest €200m in a new facility in Co Lonford - creating 1,000 new jobs.

Some 750 jobs will be created during construction, followed up by 1,000 permanent positions.

It comes after Coillte, the State forestry company, agreed to the sale of the 375 acre site at Newcastle Wood in Ballymahon.

Center Parcs already operates five short break holiday villages in the UK - as well as several across France, Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands.

This new development, which was alluded to yesterday, will be five kilometres from Ballymahon, and 21 kilometres from junction 9 (Athlone) of the M6 motorway from Dublin to Galway.

The new facility is expected to open to guests in 2019 with capacity for up to 2,500 guests.

Martin Dalby, chief executive of Center Parcs, spoke to Jonathan Healy on Lunchtime today and detailed why the area was perfect for their project.

He said: "This is fantastic for the local and regional economy. We're looking at up to 1,000 jobs here once it's open. 750 jobs during construction and then 1,000 permanent jobs when the holiday village is trading."

"We're looking at €32 million of annual input to the Irish GDP as a result of this project."

"We're building up to 500 lodges so we would be looking at about 2,500 guests on holiday with us at any one time."

You can listen to his interview here: