Guinness owner Diageo Ireland has confirmed that it is planning to build its new brewery on a 73-acre site in Leixlip, Co Kildare.
The company says the proposed site has historical links to Arthur Guinness and his first brewery.
The move is part of a plan announced in May, under which Diageo said it would close its breweries in Kilkenny and Dundalk, but maintain production at St James's Gate in Dublin, along with the brand new facility.
Diageo Ireland anticipates that the new brewery will be completed by 2013 and will be called the 'Arthur Guinness Brewery'.
Arthur Guinness established his first brewery in Leixlip in 1755 before moving to St James's Gate in 1759. Most of the proposed site will be bought from the Guinness family, direct descendants of Arthur Guinness. The remaining area of the site will be purchased, subject to approval from Kildare County Council.
'This will be the biggest Diageo brewery in the world and the largest in Ireland,' the company says.
When the new Leixlip brewery is commissioned in 2013, all production from Kilkenny and Dundalk breweries will be transferred there. The new brewery will also produce Guinness for export.
St James's Gate will continue to brew Guinness, but mainly for the Irish and British markets.
