A £30 million cement manufacturing plant with a potential for 200 jobs is planned for Kilkelly, Co Mayo.

If planning permission for the development is approved, it will be the second such facility of its kind in the State.

Cement is already manufactured by Cement Roadstone Holdings at its two plants in Drogheda and Limerick.

The Kilkelly plant is to be established by Frank Harrington Ltd, the main contractors to Knock International Airport and the Longford bypass. The company employs 150.

A major environmental statement covering all aspects of the project has been lodged with the planning authorities as the development will be subject to a licence application under the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992.

The company is one of the biggest in the country involved in the production of sand and aggregates, concrete pipes and blocks.

The planning permission application is for a cement manufacturing plant and ancillary works with a sewerage treatment unit, together with the proposed extraction of limestone from an area of almost 30 hectares in the townlands of Carrowscoltia, Scardaun, Ballyhine and Ballynacloy.