JobsFair.ie

HUNDREDS of IKEA jobs have yet to be filled ahead of their Dublin opening in July.

The furniture outlet is planning to hold recruitment open days in the near future to showcase the opportunities available.

Competition for the positions is expected to be intense.

At the open days, workers will be chatting about their work and their company at the Ballymun Civic Centre, IKEA's products will be on display and people will be given the chance to learn more about the training program, sales, logistics and food services.

The 350 job places still left include perks like a contributory pension scheme according to Mary McCarthy, of IKEA.

Its opening will be a welcome boost for the north Dublin area after months of delays due to work on the M50.

An Bord Pleanala set a requirement that the M50 must be improved before the opening of the store.

Local Cllr Ray Corcoran says: "We all want it open for the employment. There's going to be 500 jobs and 250 for the Ballymun area when it comes."

Confident

The €110m development includes a 500-seat restaurant, a bistro, a cafe and a Swedish food hall as well as a free creche. It will have more than 1,500 parking spaces and will carry almost 10,000 products.

The 30,500 square-metre building has been erected on a site bordering the M50 and St Margaret's Road.

And despite the economic downturn since the massive plan was first mooted, IKEA is still confident that the store will attract 2.75m customers in its first year alone.

The store had hoped to construct a massive illuminated tower on the M50 to give motorists advanced warning of the stores opening.

However, Fingal County Council said the plan would be excessive, visually obtrusive and "incongruous".

Ikea's first Irish store was opened in Belfast in December 2007, and it has 292 stores in 36 countries worldwide.

There had been a number of objections to the Dublin development, including one from Green Energy Minister Eamon Ryan, but An Bord Pleanala granted permission in 2007 subject to some 30 conditions.

Emmet Farrell