Protest bid to stop Ornua’s new butter packing facility to Cork

Ornua’s new butter packing facility in Mitchelstown is in the midst of a storm of protest by a Co Sligo action group trying to save more than 20 jobs at the Aurivo Co-Operative plant in Achonry.

The Co-Op, headquartered in Sligo and known as North Connaught Farmers, and then Connacht Gold until 2013, is the largest milk processor and co-op in the West of Ireland.

Defending their decision to transfer its Achonry butter packing operation to Ornua’s new facility in Mitchelstown, expected to take place next June, Aurivo chairman Tom Cunniffe, said the co-op’s board of management is completely committed to the project.