The Sean Quinn Group has taken another step towards establishing a £40 million glass bottle manufacturing plant with the planned recruitment of senior staff for the operation. As it awaits planning permission for the plant from Fermanagh County Council, the group is seeking to recruit senior engineering staff for the operation.

The group applied last November for permission to build a large glass bottle manufacturing plant in Derrylin in Fermanagh. No decision has yet been taken according to the county planning office.

A spokeswoman said that it was taking time to assess the application because it involved "a very large scale development". The planning office expected to issue a decision "very soon", she added. If the new plant is set up in Fermanagh, it will be the second glass plant in Ireland and a competitor in the Irish market for the Ardagh-owned Irish Glass Bottle company.

Ardagh is currently the only domestic manufacturer of glass bottles and imports of glass bottles are very low. Ardagh has an annual turnover of about £36 million. It reported pre-tax profits of £5.8 million for the year to the end of June 1996, with profits boosted by interest income of £800,000 on its cash hoard.

Brokers are forecasting turnover of about £38 million for the current year and profits before tax and interest of £5.3 million. The company enjoys strong profit margins with operating margins of between 14 and 15 per cent. Asked about the impact of competition from the Sean Quinn Group, Ardagh managing director, Mr Eddie Kilty said: "It is just another competitor. We already compete with the largest companies in the world."

The company's major customers were multinationals who bought from other manufacturers in other markets and bought from Ardagh in the Irish market because it offered the most competitive prices, Mr Kilty said. The other producers "cannot compete with us here", he said.

The decision by the Quinn group to set up the plant in Northern Ireland was a disappointment for midland and northern counties in the Republic. When the plant was first mooted, there was speculation that it could be set up in Cavan or Longford.

A private company, the Sean Quinn Group owns hotels and public houses throughout the Republic in addition to its five cement factories at group headquarters in Derrylin, and in Galway and Longford. The group set up a direct general insurance operation at the beginning of the year and is understood to be preparing to open a life assurance company to sell life and pensions products.

The group was set up by Mr Sean Quinn and started as a sand and gravel quarry on a 23-acre farm in Derrylin.