2,000+ jobs for the South East will bring wealth of opportunity for farming communities – O’Neill

Fine Gael Senator for Carlow/Kilkenny, Pat O’Neill, has welcomed the announcement of more than 2,000 jobs to be created through the development of a world-class dairy facility by Glanbia Ingredients Ireland Limited (GIIL) at Belview on the Kilkenny/Waterford border.

The project, which is being supported by Enterprise Ireland will have considerable impact on farming families, dairy contractors and those in the construction sector who are looking to get back to work.

“The Action Plan for Jobs, the aim of which is to identify and support the sectors with the potential for growth and expansion, has been focusing on increasing our food exports under Harvest 2020. With the abolition of milk quotas in 2015 we will see opportunities for new energetic and existing dairy farmers and this announcement by GIIL and Enterprise Ireland will see an increase in jobs which are much needed in our economy, especially in the agri-food sector. The announcement today of the development of a dairy facility by Glanbia at Belview sees a Government aspiration realised with the creation of 1,600 direct and indirect jobs at the plant as well as a further 450 jobs to be realised during the construction phase.

“This investment is expected to be worth €400 million a year to the rural economy and a huge step forward in realising the Harvest 2020 Dairy Vision. The expansion of GIIL, which is responsible for processing 30% of Ireland’s milk pool into a range of dairy ingredients for export to more than 50 countries, to this extent brings with it massive potential for the dairy sector and for those involved in the agri-food sector.

“It is estimated that the dairy industry purchases 90% of its inputs from the domestic economy, underlying the significant opportunities for expansion and production that lie ahead for local farmer families, processors and those in the dairy sector. Construction on the facility is expected to begin in a little under three weeks, with production to begin at the plant in Spring 2015.

“The single biggest challenge facing this Government is to get our people back to work. To do this, we have to continue building on the export success we have been witnessed over the last two years and to stimulate home-grown industries. This project ticks both boxes. These jobs should be on stream by 2018 but the effects will be felt by local communities well in advance of that. I am excited by what this announcement will mean for the South East, which has suffered disproportionally when it comes to the scale of the unemployment crisis left for us by Fianna Fáil.”
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