DAIRY PRODUCTS COMPANY Lakeland Dairies has announced it plans to close three of its facilities as part of its “new strategic direction”.

The firm announced it will close a milk production facility and its milk drying facilities in Co Monaghan as well as a butter churning, packing and powder storage plant in Co Down.

The drying facility and the site in Banbridge, Co Down will close in June 2024, while the milk production facility in Monaghan will close in the first quarter of 2025.

This comes as part of the company’s new plan to transfer its milk production facility to a site in Killeshandra in Co Cavan, which was approved by Lakeland Dairies’ board “after detailed and careful consideration”.

“Regrettably, redundancies will be necessary to realise this strategy as operations will be ceased on the three sites,” the company said in a statement today.

Milk processing plants at Bailieboro, Killeshandra, Newtownards, Ballyrashane and Artigarvan will continue. After its closure, the company intends to sell its site in Banbridge.

Lakeland Dairies has commenced an engagement and consultation process with staff and their unions directly. The remaining 1,300 staff will not be impacted by the announcement, the company said.

The company’s CEO Colin Kelly said it was necessary for the firm to assess its processes as it approaches a decade “that will be different from the one that the industry has just experienced”.

Kelly added that Lakeland Dairies “appreciate that this announcement creates uncertainty for our colleagues and their families” and will work closely with the impacted staff.

Sinn Féin TD for Cavan-Monaghan Matt Carthy described the announcement as a “devastating blow” for the workers.

Carthy said: “These are job losses that the local economy can ill-afford. Monaghan is highly dependent on the agri-food sector and this announcement will have a profound impact.”

Carthy added that he has contacted the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment about the issue and called for a “swift government response”.

During the year, the company’s “cross-border dairy processing co-operative” assessed how to further its processing efficiencies in the long-term interests and sustainability of its 3,200 farms.

These farms produce 2 billion litres of milk annually, according to the company.

The company said: “An integral component of this new operational direction is optimising the Lakeland Dairies processing footprint to ensure that the co-op is best placed to serve the needs of its loyal customer base and to continue to support its farm families.”

The company hopes the plan will allow the co-op to further generate increased value-add capability.

Speaking on the announcement of the new plan, Colin said: “The industry has come through a period of significant volume growth following the removal of milk quotas in 2015.

“Lakeland Dairies invested over €350m to support the ambition of our farm families to produce this additional milk and meet the latent demand at farm level for expansion.

“The next decade will be less about large volume growth and more about value-added growth and adding capability throughout the business.

“This will be done to drive the best possible returns for our farmers and to continue to offer our loyal customers the highest-quality products while supporting our people and our communities,” he added.