German firm honoured for contribution

The business community in Killarney, Co Kerry, has acknowledged the contribution of the Liebherr company, which employs more than 800 people in the area, to the national and local economy.

Killarney Chamber of Commerce and Tourism lobbied for an honorary doctorate for Isolde Liebherr, who was recently conferred with the honour by UCC.

Ms Liebherr and her brother, Willi, jointly run the German-owned multinational, founded by their late father Hans Liebherr who opened a crane factory in Killarney in 1958.

The factory currently has a workforce of just over 600 and a further 200 people are employed in three Liebherr-owned hotels in the area.

Container cranes manufactured in Killarney are operating in 75 ports around the world.

Killarney chamber vice-president Johnny McGuire, who attended the conferring along with several other people from the town, said official recognition of the company had been long overdue.

“The economic and social benefits of having Liebherr over the past 54 years are immeasurable.”

Speaking at the conferring, Ms Liebherr said her company remained committed to its interests in Ireland and had plans for further investment in infrastructure and technology.

Ms Liebherr was also given the freedom of Killarney by the local town council, recently.

Liebherr, which has a group turnover of €8.2bn, has 33,400 employees and is also involved globally in the production of aircraft parts, heavy engineering and mining equipment, fridges and freezers.