The British sports chain JD is to create 1,200 seasonal jobs in Ireland.

It has launched its biggest ever recruitment drive to fill the positions.

The company says it is gearing up for one of the busiest sales periods of the year.

The sports and fashion company operates 38 stores in Ireland - 760 of the positions will be filled in the Republic of Ireland, it says.

The largest number will be at the JD flagship store at the Jervis Centre in Dublin.

Some 120 positions will be created there, followed by it stores in Dundrum and Cork.

Those filling the temporary positions will be responsible for customer service, assisting the merchandising team, keeping stock areas clean, unloading and reception of deliveries.

The full-time and part-time seasonal sales assistant roles are to cover the peak sales period between now, throughout Christmas and into the first week in January.

Full training will also be provided to successful candidates and recruitment is already underway.

The company has 2,420 stores worldwide and saw revenue growth of stg4.7bn (€5.42bn) for the 2019 financial year.

That is an increase of 49.2%.

It also recently completed the acquisition of Finish Line in the US for approximately US$558m (€502m).

Finish Line sells shoes, apparel and accessories across some 930 branded locations there, employing approximately 13,000 people.