Glanbia Cheese has unveiled plans to build a new “world-class” mozzarella cheese manufacturing facility in Portlaoise, Co Laois.

A site for the new facility has been identified at the recently-established Togher National Industrial Estate in Portlaoise.

Glanbia Cheese is a joint venture business between Glanbia plc and Leprino Foods.

A total of €130 million will be invested in this facility, which is supported by the Irish Government through Enterprise Ireland.

The new facility will have a production capacity of 45,000t per annum. Approximately 78 full time jobs will be created at the facility.

It is expected that a further 250 jobs will be created during the construction phase.

The project will now move to its planning phase. If planning permission is successfully achieved, construction will commence later this year and the new facility would be expected to begin production in 2020.

Midlands

Welcoming the announcement, Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan TD said: “This is a great day for Glanbia Cheese, Portlaoise and the midlands region.

“Glanbia’s continuous investment here shows its commitment and confidence in Ireland, our dairy excellence and our talented workforce.

I congratulate Glanbia, Leprino Foods and Enterprise Ireland and look forward to their continued success here in Portlaoise.

Glanbia and Leprino Foods already have a successful existing joint venture partnership in Glanbia Cheese Limited which was established in 2000 and has large scale manufacturing operations in Llangefni in Wales and in Magheralin, Northern Ireland.

Glanbia Cheese Limited is the leading mozzarella manufacturer in Europe, according to the processor.

The new investment will build upon this partnership while the new scalable facility will provide bespoke cheese solutions for customers across Europe.

Siobhan Talbot, group managing director of Glanbia, added: “We are pleased to announce plans to build this new facility for Glanbia Cheese.

“Our partnership with Leprino Foods has been very successful for both partners to date and we are very positive about the potential of this new venture. We have worked closely with Enterprise Ireland on this project and are very appreciative of its support and commitment.”

‘Exciting project’

Commenting Mike Durkin, president of Leprino Foods, said: “This new plant in Portlaoise is an exciting project that will not only expand our thriving partnership with Glanbia, but will take advantage of our combined experience, knowledge and strengths to build a state-of-the-art facility to meet consumer demand for mozzarella cheese.”

Glanbia Cheese’s Portlaoise facility will source the majority of its key raw materials from Glanbia Ireland. The facility will supply products to customers in the food service sector of the pizza category across Europe.