The Irish dairy sector employs 53,930 people and made up 2.1% of national employment in 2022, according to new analysis by Ernst and Young (EY).

In a study commissioned by Dairy Industry Ireland (DII), EY found that this employment supports wages of €1.7bn per annum.

The dairy sector jobs include 5,651 full-time employees in Ireland and a further 2,500 people abroad. The majority of these jobs are supported in the rural economy, particularly in the southwest, mid-west and southeast.

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Jobs created and maintained by the dairy sector are not just those which are supported in the supply chain of the processing industry itself, which includes dairy farmers.

EY also included the jobs created by the spending of those employed in the supply chain. For example, the jobs maintained by dairy farmers buying groceries in their local shops.

The number of dairy farms supplying Ireland’s main processors is 15,600, with a further 1,100 dairy farms supplying other dairy co-operatives and companies, bringing the total to 16,700.

This dairy farm number is expected to decrease by 3% to 15,200 by 2030.

The average herd size in 2022 was 90 cows and this is forecast to increase, by 10%, to 100 cows by the end of the decade.