Fact file: All you need to know about the 'Center Parcs Longford Forest' holiday village 

1. €233 million - estimated total cost

2. 395 acres - size of Center Parcs Longford Forest holiday village site in Newcastle Wood, Ballymahon

3. 3,000 - Number of pages in Center Parcs Longford Forest initial planning application to Longford County Council last October

4. 750 jobs - created during construction phase

5. 1,000 jobs - when operational

6. 2019 - date expected to open to guests

7. €400,000 - pre-opening training for employees with a further €140,000 per year from 2019

8. 2,500 guests - holiday village capacity

9. 250,000 - projected number of visitors annually, or a five-fold increase on Longford’s current tourism numbers

10. €32 million - Center Parcs Longford Forest will add to Irish GDP per annum

11. €1 billion - Center Parcs Longford Forest will add to Irish GDP over the next 20 years

12. 470 lodges and 30 apartments - accommodation at Center Parcs Longford Forest

13. 10% - total area being built on; vast majority of Newcastle Wood woodland will remain untouched

14. Six - Longford Forest is Center Parcs UK’s 6th short break destination, the first in Ireland - the five others are Whinfell Forest, Cumbria; Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire; Elveden Forest, Suffolk; Woburn Forest, Bedfordshire and Longleat Forest, Wiltshire.

15. £2.4 billion - the price Brookfield Property Partners (Toronto) paid to acquire Center Parcs from its private-equity owners, Blackstone in June 2015