No regrets over decision, says Henchy

DAIRYGOLD boss Jerry Henchy said he doesn’t regret any of his actions that have led to the loss of 1,238 full time jobs at the company.

He said that if he had not taken the axe to Dairygold as he found it the situation now would be much more difficult.

“We had horrible decisions that had to be made and more horrible decisions to make in the future,” he said. Asked if he had any regrets Mr Henchy replied: “The answer is no.”

That was the choice facing us and the situation about the unsustainable nature of the operations as they stood were fully explained to workers at the time, he said.

“There was no way they were going to be popular, no way they were going to be liked and there was no way of pretending that I could do them, in a manner that was glib and seemed to be decent. It just had to be done and that was it,” he said.

It would have been crueller to people to have dragged this process out by giving false hope, he said. On the question of job losses, Mr Henchy said he does not have a figure “written on the wall” of 1,500 or 1,600 jobs that have to be achieved as the overall target.

Jobs have been cut where necessary and that’s the way it has to be. As a result of the deal with Glanbia it looks as if up to 300 jobs have been saved, he said.

Taking the people out of Mitchelstown and Mallow was a difficult choice. But the group had 13 offices between Mallow and Mitchelstown. He believes that the situation regarding head office might have been handled better, but again there were so many issues involved that it was never going to be easy.

Events were propelled into the public domain ahead of plans.

At this stage 45 of the people destined for the Cork Airport Business Park are working in accountancy and other back office function in Mallow.

“I don’t think we have been socially insensitive. In the case of Mitchelstown the two biggest divisions involving milk processing and the consumer division are based there,” he said.

He believes with the head office destined for Mallow with the agri division close by and with Mitchelstown being the centre for milk production and consumer foods, that the shake-up has been managed with as much sensitivity as possible.

Mr Henchy implied that there were a lot of local politics that had to be dealt with and overall he believes he has left the society in much better shape.