Aldi plans regional centre in Mitchelstown

RETAIL giant Aldi is planning to build a €100 million regional distribution centre for the south of Ireland which will create up to 160 jobs.

The German discount chain confirmed yesterday that the huge office and warehouse facility will be built on a 32-acre site off the Mitchelstown relief road in north Cork.

The new facility will service Aldi’s stores in Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford.

The project will create about 40 office-based jobs and a further 120 in the massive warehouse and distribution centre.

Several pre-planning meetings have already taken place with county council officials over the last eight months.

It is hoped that a planning application will be lodged next month and that construction could start by next summer.

The company bought the site from Dairygold and will demolish a disused grain silo to pave the way for the project.

“We are very pleased to be expanding our operations and planning our new distribution centre in Mitchelstown,” said a company spokesman.

“It is a strong location with a highly skilled workforce and will be important for the development of our business.”

The company also examined sites in Nenagh and Limerick.

But it is understood Mitchelstown’s excellent roads infrastructure and the availability of a skilled workforce played a crucial role in the final decision.

Local Fine Gael Cllr Liam O’Doherty welcomed the news as a tremendous boost for a town which has lost several hundred jobs in recent years.

Dairygold closed its Galtee plant in the town last year with the loss of between 350 and 400 jobs.

“Aldi saw all the positives of locating here,” he said.

“We must move on from Dairygold and continue to promote Mitchelstown as a positive place for business and industry.”

But he said the Government still owes the town.

“Aldi located here on their own initiative. We still need more commitment from the Government to replace the jobs we’ve lost.”

Aldi began operations in Ireland in 1999. Headquartered at Naas in Co Kildare where it has its national distribution centre, it has a network of 52 stores across the country including stores in Mitchelstown, Mayfield, Grange and Ballincollig.

It is planning to build five more stores in Cork alone next year.