Guinness to upgrade St James’s Gate but Leixlip brewery plan on hold

DIAGEO has confirmed its intention to invest €153 million in upgrading and expanding its iconic Guinness Brewery at St James’s Gate in Dublin over the next two years.

The move is effectively a scaled-down version of expansion plans it announced in 2008 before they were mothballed.

Back then, Diageo said it was going to renovate St James’s Gate and build a new 73-acre brewery in Leixlip, Co Kildare for a combined investment of €650m.

Although the company still, technically, has options regarding the Leixlip site that element of the plan has been halted.

The new plan still includes the closing of Guinness’s two brewing facilities in Kilkenny and Dundalk and the centralisation of all brewing into St James’s Gate. When initially announced four years ago, 250 jobs were set to be lost with these two closures.

Since then, however, that figure has dropped to 99, given some workers have been re-deployed to Dublin, natural attrition and a decent acceptance of the company’s early retirement offer. The Dundalk site is now set to close in July 2013, with Kilkenny set to cease operating five months later.

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton yesterday referred to the new Diageo plan as “a huge vote of confidence” in the Irish economy, creating “very welcome” construction jobs. The extension of Guinness’s fermentation plant, the building of a new brewhouse facility and the building of a new grain intake building will create 300 jobs in the construction phase.

“High-tech manufacturing must be at the centre of our jobs recovery and the news that the next generation of Diageo’s activities will take place at a brewing centre of excellence in Guinness’s historic home in Dublin demonstrates what is possible,” he added.

However, Kilkenny city councillor and Green Party environment spokesperson Malcolm Noonan criticised Mr Bruton for welcoming the Dublin expansion on a day when closure dates were confirmed for Kilkenny and Dundalk.

Diageo’s head of global supply, David Gosnell, said: “The decision to consolidate to the St James’s Gate site is fundamental to delivering the competitiveness necessary for the long-term sustainability of our brewing in Ireland.”