Rob Templeman, chief executive of Debenhams, said the company sees scope for up to about 20 of the smallerformat Desire stores in the Republic and Northern Ireland. The stores, designed for smaller catchment areas, are about 15,000 sq ft in size compared to regular department store sizes of 60,000 sq ft to 100,000 sq ft.

The Desire by Debenhams stores are female-only, with a strong emphasis on the store's designer labels. They sell cosmetics and accessories, as well as offering beauty parlours, nail bars and cafe areas.

Debenhams began piloting the Desire by Debenhams stores a year ago. It opened its first in Truro, Cornwall, last summer, and has opened three more since.

Debenhams, which has just bought the leases on nine Roches Stores branches, is also keen to open up to three more department stores in Ireland, Templeman said.

The chain is particularly keen to secure sites in the southern part of the country, where he believes it is still under-represented. "We are not represented in towns like Wexford, where there is a great opportunity, " he added.

In a separate development, negotiations between Roches Stores and Mandate, the union representing its workers, are to be addressed by the Labour Relations Commission this week after talks stalled on the issue of the 14.8m deficit in the Roches Stores staff pension fund and on a goodwill payment for staff.