Sugar factory pressure mounts
Greencore will close the plant on May 12, bringing to an end the 80 year-old Irish sugar processing industry. Some 324 jobs will be lost and 3,700 farmers will be left without an outlet for their beet. Service providers will also be affected.
Fears are now growing, however, that the company may in the near future dismantle the plant, located on a 285-acre site close to the rapidly expanding town.
Since the Greencore decision to cease sugar processing, following the EUs radical reform of the industry, various calls have been made to have the modern refinery converted to bio-fuel production.
Fine Gael Cork-east Senator Paul Bradford yesterday urged Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan to ensure that Greencore does not dismantle the plant.
“The possibility of the Mallow plant being used for bio-fuel production is a realistic target, but this can only be realised if it remains in place,” he said.
He added that the establishment of a bio-fuel industry, that will include the use of sugar beet for the manufacture of bioethanol, is central to Fine Gael’s recently-launched energy policy.
“The production of bio-fuel energy at the former Mallow sugar factory is, therefore, vital not only to the future of Irish sugar and tillage, but also to tackling our emerging and escalating energy crisis,” he said.
Mr Bradford said Ms Coughlan, on the other hand, has no such plan.
“However, even she must recognise the importance of not dismantling the Mallow plant and I call on her to take the necessary steps with Greencore,” he said.
