Apple may be the company to fill the void left by the iconic Clerys on O'Connell Street.

Natrium, the consortium that purchased the store in a deal worth €29m is trying to lease the premises to the tech giant.

Apple has no official store in Ireland yet and told The Irish Times it had not announced a store for the location.

It is understood that negotiations between the two parties have been ongoing for several months.

Should the deal go through it would represent a major win for Natrium, whose site is also said to have attracted the attention of Mike Ashley-owned Sports Direct.

Clerys' closure in June led to the loss of 460 jobs and sparked numerous protests by shell-shocked workers.

The store entered into receivership before being scooped up by Natrium.

Online Editors