Tillage growers in the south-east have been urged to express their interest in growing sugar beet again, 13 years after the closure of the last sugar factory in Ireland.
Michael Hoey of Country Crest and Beet Ireland told a large meeting of the Irish Grain Growers' group in Bunclody, Co Wexford that progress has been made on a site for the construction of a new sugar factory to be located close to the Carlow/Kildare border.
He said that his group has a business model that will work, and is ready, willing and able to re-start the Irish sugar industry since EU sugar quota restrictions were lifted last October.
However, he told the meeting that the development required tillage growers to make it clear that they are now willing to grow sugar beet again in Ireland.
