The country's biggest diary co-operative, Dairygold, has announced that it is to shed 270 jobs at its plants in Roscrea in Co Tipperary and in Michelstown in Co Cork.
In a statement, Dairygold says the closure of its pig meat processing facility in Roscrea and its pig slaughtering and boning operations in Mitchelstown is unavoidable because both plants are no longer competitive.
The Roscrea plant will close by the end of September and the Mitchelstown plant will cease operations by the end of October.
Dairygold's Chief Executive Jerry Henchy says that while they will no longer process pig meat, they will continue to buy it from other Irish processors. He added that the company will continue to supply pig feeds to producers across Munster and Leinster.
He added that no business can sustain ongoing production or expand to exploit market opportunities if its cost base is uncompetitive. The closure of these two plants, he said, will reduce staff and management costs and help them achieve competitiveness and preserve the remaining 585 jobs in the group's Consumer Foods division.
Dairygold is the country's biggest farmer co-op and until today's announcement employed 2,500 people in Counties Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Dublin in its cheese, pig, and liquid milk operations.
Since Jerry Henchy took the helm at Dairygold last year, the company has introduced major rationalisation plans which has seen the workforce reduced by 800.
