Glanbia Ireland update on continental cheese facility
Glanbia Ireland’s new €150 million joint venture to create a state-of-the-art continental cheese facility at Belview, Kilkenny is an essential piece of infrastructure which will play a key role in sustaining our local rural economy and benefitting our network of 4,500 family farms.
This strategic joint venture between Glanbia Ireland and leading Dutch family-owned dairy producer Royal A-ware is a vital part of Ireland’s Brexit mitigation and product mix diversification strategy.
An Taisce’s decision to seek a Judicial Review of An Bord Pleanála’s approval of the project will be a cause of concern for farm families and the wider rural economy.
Glanbia Ireland is fully satisfied in the project’s merit and is happy to work with any stakeholder to bring the key benefits of this project to life for our family farms and our rural communities.
The facility will create a new route to market for the milk supplied by Glanbia Ireland’s network of 4,500 family farms, sustaining livelihoods and the rural economy all over the south-east of Ireland.
It will ensure a significant proportion of our milk pool, which is currently outsourced to other processors, is processed in a new state-of-the art cheese plant.
The project will result in 100 permanent jobs and up to 400 jobs during construction, delivering a boost to the rural economy.
It will utilise the latest technology and will meet the highest environmental specifications and most stringent quality control measures available.
Glanbia Ireland pays over €1.05bn to 4,500 farm families for milk supplied each year, delivering a significant economic boost to rural communities. It is estimated the dairy processing sector supports over 46,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs in the rural economy, delivering over €944 million a year in wages.