Sweet science to take over as last beet factory gets space-age upgrade

THE sprawling 285-acre Mallow Sugar Factory complex yesterday looked like Cape Canaveral before the launch of a shuttle space mission.

People wearing hard hats and yellow bibs moved back and forth. Forklift trucks and other vehicles traversed the grounds. And men with maps spoke into mobile phones.

It’s all part of the build-up to the September 19 launch of the 2005-2006 beet processing campaign at what is the country’s last remaining sugar factory, following the closure of the Carlow plant in March.