After a two-year delay, Glanbia’s proposed €140m cheese plant in Belview has got the green light. The planned continental cheese production facility is a joint venture between Glanbia Ireland and international dairy firm, Royal A-ware.
Yesterday, 16 February, 2022, the Supreme Court dismissed An Taisce’s appeal against planning permission.
Glanbia Ireland Chief Executive Jim Bergin expressed his pleasure, “that we can now bring this project to fruition in conjunction with our partners. This project is in line with Government policy and is critical to our market diversification post-Brexit.”
He said that getting the plant into production as soon as possible is now of huge importance to its 4,500 farm families. “Our team is now focused on getting the plant into production for the 2024 season. We are extremely grateful to our joint venture partners, Royal A-ware, for their patience over the past two years as this project successfully progressed through the planning and legal processes.”
John Murphy, Glanbia Ireland chairman, commented that,“We are hopeful that today’s ruling brings an end to uncertainty for farm families and to the significant extra costs, including income foregone by farmers, construction cost inflation, legal costs and business disruption that the delay has caused.”
In addition to supporting the incomes of 4,500 farm families, the partners expect the new Enterprise Ireland-supported cheese production facility to create 85 full-time jobs and support 400 construction jobs in the south-east.
In response to the ruling, An Taisce released a statement outlining that it made the appeal in the belief that the tests and structures in place were “insufficient”, but it notes and respects yesterday’s decision.
LSL News.