Kenny to turn sod on €116m Dairygold plants

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is to visit north Cork on Friday where he will lay the foundation stone for Dairygold’s new €83.5m milk processing plant in Mallow.

Mr Kenny will then travel to Mitchelstown where he will officially open another Dairygold plant worth €33m, set to manufacture all of the world’s iconic Kerrygold butter.

The combined €116m investment by the company will lead to the creation of 115 jobs and hundreds more during construction.

He was briefed in the Dáil yesterday by local TD, Tom Barry who is heavily involved in agri-business himself and says that Dairygold’s investment was only the beginning of plans which will see it become a significant player in the global food market.

“The Taoiseach will be laying a foundation stone at the Mallow development and officially opening the new processing facilities at Castlefarm in Mitchelstown. Dairygold is building on our area as a centre of excellence in dairy production,” he said.

This investment will bring the Mallow site back to an output of over 450 tonnes a day — a level last achieved when the it hosted the combined activities of milk powder, chocolate crumb and butter production.

The company plans to manufacture baby formula in Mallow and Mr Barry said that it was hoped sales would expand into the huge Chinese market.

“Apart from the jobs already provided by Dairygold and the new jobs created by this expansion, this Co-op supports the livelihoods of thousands of farm families whose futures are secured by this expansion and expression of confidence and optimism in what the years ahead will bring,” he said.

“The removal of the milk quota restriction post-2015 is a challenging and exciting prospect, and Dairygold, its staff, suppliers and shareholders have embraced this prospect with vigour.”

Dairygold’s 3,000 milk suppliers have forecast a 63.5% increase in milk production from 941 million litres in 2011 to 1,539 million litres by 2020 — a growth of about 600 million litres a year.

These expanded facilities will meet the demand for the processing of this surge in production.

“I want to also warmly welcome the official announcement of the new Kerrygold butter plant which will see every Kerrygold block of butter produced in Mitchelstown for export worldwide.

“This is an extraordinary achievement with such an iconic brand name — and it has potential for expansion globally over the coming years,” Mr Barry said.

He added that these developments would provide additional spin-off jobs in the region for small and medium-sized companies which will provide supplies and services.