There's good news on employment across Ireland this week with more than 60 high-tech jobs being created in Londonderry and Belfast, and hundreds in retailing in Dublin.

The 60 new posts in Northern Ireland are part of a £3.5m expansion plan, just announced by NI Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster (pictured)

Singularity, a software company based in Derry, will employ 43 additional members of staff in the city and will also create a further 19 jobs in Belfast.

The company employs 300 people worldwide, and has offices in London, New York, Singapore and Hyderabad in India.

Arlene Foster said she welcomed what was a "significant investment".

"This brings many benefits including high quality jobs, new product development with associated intellectual property, and increased exports.

"It also further raises Northern Ireland's profile as a centre of excellence in high performance software production," she said.

Meanwhile, in Dublin, UK department store John Lewis has announced it plans to open a Dublin outlet, creating 800 jobs in the capital.

The new store will be John Lewis' first outside Britain. The chain will be the anchor store for the proposed Dublin Central development on O'Connell Street, which is expected to open in 2013.

The €50m investment is still subject to planning permission, but the 250,000sq ft store is only part of another huge investment which will see even more jobs created in Northern Ireland too, with a new shop in Sprucefield near Lisburn, Co Antrim.

John Lewis is a major retailer selling a range of products from home furnishings, furniture, fashion, audio visual equipment and home technology.

(BMcC)