85 jobs to go as Interbrew shuts Belfast plant
Interbrew UK said production of Bass would continue after the brewery closed in January but that no decision had been taken on whether Bass would shift to an Interbrew plant in Britain or be outsourced to other Irish-based brewers.
The 200 staff working in Bass Ireland's operations and customer service divisions in Belfast and Omagh will be unaffected by the move.
Bass employs a further 75 people in sales, marketing and distribution in the Republic, whose jobs are safe.
Interbrew UK director David Randall said the manufacturing operation was no longer sustainable after losing a bottling contract for Lucozade last year.
Interbrew had hoped to find a buyer for the Belfast operation, but admitted defeat after approaches from a number of interested parties came to nothing.
"I would like to stress that this decision in no way reflects on the quality of output from the Bass Ireland manufacturing team, which has been of the highest order throughout," said Mr Randall. "The decision to close has been solely driven by unsustainable costs and in no way reflects the excellent performance of our brand portfolio, which continues to prosper throughout Ireland."
The Belfast plant's problems began when brewing of Caffrey's ale was transferred to Britain a number of years ago, but these were compounded by the loss of the Lucozade contract.
The remaining brewing and kegging operations had to shoulder higher fixed costs, previously borne by the bottling division.
Yesterday's announcement may provide an opportunity for the Beamish & Crawford brewery in Cork, which has produced Bass in the past.
Interbrew said it would take the necessary steps to ensure the Bass product remained unchanged and that the drink's quality and taste would be unaffected.
Interbrew has offered to place 20 of the 75 staff elsewhere in the company, and a redundancy package to departing staff.
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