There was a huge turnout on Friday for Dairygold’s “launch party” to mark the completion of phase one of its dairy processing expansion programme in Mitchelstown and the start of work on the next phase in Mallow.

The Cabinet was out in force for a visibly proud Jim Woulfe – An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney and Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton were there. Junior Ministers Tom Hayes and Sean Sherlock were also prominent, as was local TD Tom Barry. As well as the 209 members of the Dairygold regional committees, the dairy processing industry was well represented, with almost all sending their chief executive or chairman. Dairygold chairman Bertie O’Leary was a proud man on the day, as he showed off a shiny new €33.5m drier in Mitchelstown and laid the foundation stone for a €83.5m “brownfield” development in Mallow.

The Irish Dairy Board’s Kevin Lane was also a guest speaker at Mitchelstown, where the marketing board is ready to start construction of a new butter packaging plant.