Greencore ‘is open to factory use options’
Former sugar plant in Mallow could be sold and/or developed Greencore says it is ready to talk about future options for the use of what was the last sugar manufacturing plant in Ireland.
Cork County Council wrote to the company recently to ask what it is intending to do with the former sugar factory in Mallow.
After 77 years of production, the factory closed in controversial circumstances in May 2006, with the loss of 240 jobs.
Andy Beach, Greencore’s head of property, wrote to the local authority, suggesting that his company meet with officials from its planning department, “in order to understand the options available for the future of the site” and any zoning designations which may be put on it.
Mr Beach said that, since the factory closed, the company has been working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure the site is up to a standard that it could be reused.
“We are now at a stage where we can look at the options for the future of the site, including its development and/or sale,” Mr Beach wrote.
The council’s northern division wrote to Greencore, asking what its future plans are for the site and urging it to consider using it for new, bio-economy developments.
The suggestion was made by Fine Gael councillor John Paul O’Shea and got unanimous backing from other councillors.
They also wrote to Minister for Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, Michael Creed, asking him to look at the plant for such a development.
Mr O’Shea welcomed the response from Greencore, outlining its willingness to have future development on the site considered, “or, indeed, to dispose of the site in its entirety to other interested parties”.
“The bio-economy is a new and emerging economy and it is part of the joint government committee chaired by Minister Richard Bruton and Minister Michael Creed to create and foster new bio-economy development in the country,” said Mr O’Shea.
“I believe the old sugar factory site is an ideal site for this form of development.”
Mr O’Shea said that the site and the Mallow area itself are ideally located to accommodate this type of development, with close access to the N20 and N72. The site also has a spur line, connecting it to the railway network.
“I will be encouraging the planning staff in Cork County Council to arrange a meeting with Greencore as soon as is possible, as requested in their reply, and progress development plans for the site. This may or may not include the bio-economy,” said Mr O’Shea.
What’s critical is that we, as a local authority, need to ensure we encourage development of some nature on this site in the near future.
The plant ceased operations as a result of EU reforms on sugar production. However, a subsequent report, four years after, from the EU Court of Auditors, said it shouldn’t have closed.
In an analysis of the EU’s sugar reforms, auditors found that the European Commission was working off old figures that did not take into account Greencore’s previous closure of its other sugar plant in Carlow.
