Farm, business groups to meet over plan for sugar and ethanol plant

FARM and business groups are conducting a feasibility study into a €400m twin-track sugar and ethanol plant, with the midlands as the most likely location.

Interested parties are meeting in the Hibernian Hotel in Mallow, Co Cork, at 8pm next Tuesday. Local Fine Gael Cllr Tom Barry is inviting farmers to sign a register, expressing a willingness to grow beet if the plant were to get the green light.

Originally scheduled for tonight, the meeting has been put back a week due to hazardous driving conditions. Attendees will hear the views of experts, including Prof Jim Burke, head of Teagasc Oak Park, president of the Irish Bioenergy Association Dr Tom Bruton and entrepreneurial farmer Alan Navratil.

Cllr Tom Barry said: “The idea of the register is to find out if farmers are willing to grow the beet for around €37 a ton. The base price in Germany is €26, but the various bonuses bring it up closer to €37 a ton. Irish farmers are selling beet as fodder to one another for €32 or €33.

“We will establish a register of growers, and seek funding for a feasibility study. The plant would process sugar part of the year and ethanol for the rest of the year. It would also be a power station selling electricity all year round.

“The expert panel will conduct a comprehensive study on the viability of the plant. It would cost €400m to build. We want a farmer buy-in. We also want to get money back from carbon levies, because down the road the power plant will use willow, miscanthus and wood.”

A member of Cork County Council, Tom Barry, is also a farmer, a bio-chemist and an agri-businessman. There is a lot of goodwill among farmers towards the plant, but some debate as to the real achievable price per ton. The general view is that a midlands location would be more viable — in the heart of beet-growing country, with great access to major ports.

Clonakilty-based tillage farmer David O’Brien was on the IFA’s beet management committee until the collapse of the Irish beet industry four years ago. He is one of a group that wrote to EU Commissioner Ciolos asking for the restriction on Ireland’s re-entry to the sugar market to be lifted.

David O’Brien explained: “If the economic climate and the price for beet changed, we wouldn’t want to be locked out. When we were forced out of the industry, we were getting €46 a ton. Now it’s at €27 a ton. We wouldn’t have a hope of making a profit at that price.

“That situation has to change before the plant could become viable. That said, political decisions could change the situation. Unless there is a change at EU level, we still have a problem.

“But, of course, we’d be behind the plant if the price was right.”

While there is some dispute as to the price per ton, both the interested business parties and the farm groups agree that the plant’s €400m capital costs would require state support. All sides also agree that reviving the beet industry would drive employment and boost Ireland’s recovery.