Coca-Cola has been given the green light by planners to build a new £53m factory in Northern Ireland - a move that will result in nearly 200 redundancies at plants across the country as a whole.

Coca-Cola Bottlers will move its bottle making, production and warehousing operations to a new site at Knockmore Hill, Lisburn in County Antrim. Although Dublin will remain the headquarters for Coca Cola Bottlers, current sites at Lambeg, Greenore and Naas Road will close.

The firm's md Alfie Lydon said the decision would "secure Coca-Cola Bottlers' marketing, sales and manufacturing operations in Ireland" and provide the "essential capacity to respond more rapidly to changing consumer needs"

He said the decision was part of a wider strategy for modernisation and growth, which would lead to new sales, marketing and product development jobs.

However, the move means 190 of the 290 production and warehouse staff at Naas Road and Greenore will lose their jobs. The firm currently employs 1,300 staff across Ireland.