Plans for an Aldi expansion to its range of stores in Dublin have been hit by the high cost of land and excessive delays, putting hundreds of potential jobs at risk.

The German outlet wants to significantly increase its presence in the capital and is examining 25 potential sites, with each new store creating up to 100 full- and part-time jobs each.

Competitors Tesco and Dunnes Stores currently have 58 and 35 stores in Dublin respectively.

Niall O'Connor, group managing director of Aldi Ireland, has said previously that Dublin is "a bit of a problem" because it takes twice as long to open a site in the city compared to other locations.

He added: "We have capital to invest. There is an opportunity for us and it is frustrating that we are not further ahead at a time when Dublin customers need us most."

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A spokesman for Aldi said that each new store would employ 20 to 40 people for retail positions and up to 60 people for construction work.

He added: "There is no cap on how many new stores could come to Dublin. Suffice to say we have a war chest and are prepared to invest it.

"Currently, we are looking at up to 25 individual sites that could make potential locations for Aldi in Dublin."

He said the challenge comes down to three factors.

"First of all, finding the best site is a real challenge," he said. "We want to find sites that are adjacent to local communities and are complementary to those communities. Secondly, the price of land in Dublin is expensive. For a company like Aldi which has an offering that is very much based on value, we want to ensure we are not paying over the odds for sites because that makes it more difficult to deliver the best value to consumers.

"Finally, it is an unfortunate reality that getting planning permission for new locations is not straightforward and there are a lot of delays, and that impacts Aldi's ability to deliver new stores in new locations as quickly as we'd like."

The spokesman also said that "like any capital city, finding a suitable type of site that we would like is not always easy". He added: "We want to offer a top-of-the-range store with good, strong parking facilities which are obviously very important to people when it comes to weekly shopping.

"The closer you get to a city centre, you have to be more creative and look at different ways to deliver new stores."

As a result, job opportunities are being missed out on.

The spokesman said: "We estimate the average new Aldi store employs between 20 and 40 people and in construction terms each new store supports approximately 50 to 60 construction jobs."

Aldi, which currently has 153 stores in Ireland, has built up its empire in regional and smaller towns that had often been overlooked by other big supermarket chains.

However, the focus has now moved to Dublin, which requires innovative ideas.

The retailer wants a few acres to build on so that there is enough space for car parking, but finding sites to tick all the boxes is proving difficult.

Also impacted by a smaller number of stores is employment opportunities in food production and delivery.

The spokesman said: "Aldi has a lot of local Irish suppliers and the more the company can expand its footprint, the more those suppliers can employ people."

When contacted the Department of Enterprise declined to comment.