Co-op plans back 1,000 extra jobs
“This investment will create 115 new full-time jobs in operations, as well as 400 temporary construction jobs, a hugely welcome boost. Crucially, according to an economic impact study, it will also support more than 1,000 additional knock-on jobs in the wider economy over the next five years as suppliers take on extra staff to meet the increased demand. These are real, much-needed jobs in a rural area, which will provide opportunities for young people who want to get involved in farming and live in their local area. With continued implementation of our plan, we can see more announcements like this in the coming years across rural Ireland,” said Mr Bruton.
The Taoiseach was also accompanied by Agriculture and Defence Minister Simon Coveney; Minister of State at Foreign Affairs Sean Sherlock; Minister of State for Agriculture Tom Hayes; local TDs, representatives of Enterprise Ireland, other state agencies, the broader dairy industry, farming organisations and agri-business interests.
Earlier, Mr Coveney said there could be a jobs boost of up to 10,000 needed for the 300,000 dairy cow increase and 20% efficiency gain on farms if the Food Harvest 2020 target of 50% extra milk by 2020 is achieved.
Dairygold is Ireland’s largest farmer-owned dairy co-op, processing over 960m litres (20% of Ireland’s milk pool) in 2013 to produce a range of cheese and dairy ingredients for export to 50-plus countries.
From next April’s abolition of EU dairy quotas, Dairygold’s 3,000 milk suppliers have forecast to increase annual milk production by up to 60%, by 2020, requiring a major processing capacity expansion.
“Our post-quota strategy not only ensures that we will have the capacity in place to process all of our members’ milk in the post-quota era but it also significantly improves our technological capability allowing us to produce higher value dairy ingredients ”, said Dairygold chief executive Jim Woulfe.
The co-op posted a record operating profit of €27.3m for 2013.
