A senior Stormont official has confirmed that Ryanair will be offered a £67m subsidy to locate an engine maintenance facility in Northern Ireland.

It is thought the facility would create up to 600 jobs.

Ian Snowden, the top official in the Department for the Economy, told MLAs it would be "the biggest inward investment for two decades".

He said that the bulk of the grant would come from the NI Enhanced Investment Zone (EIZ).

The details of the proposed grant were first reported by the Belfast Telegraph.

The EIZ is a UK government-funded initiative designed to promote investment and productivity in manufacturing.

Snowden said that £30m of the subsidy would come from the EIZ, £10m from his department and the remaining £27m from the UK government.

He said the £27m is currently under discussion.

Snowden added that the executive would "backstop" the £27m but did not expand on what that would mean in practice.

Ryanair is planning to bring its engine maintenance in-house at two facilities from 2029.

Northern Ireland is competing with Spain and Poland to be the location for one of those.