The news that Dairy Crest is to close its Fermanagh Creameries subsidiary in Lisnaskea, with the loss of 78 jobs, is another example of the increasing vulnerability of the smaller plants in this sector of the market. It is the latest in a number of recent rationalisations in the industry in Northern Ireland, as companies look to cut costs in a highly competitive market.
The closure in Lisnaskea is part of a plan by Dairy Crest, the UK's largest dairy company, to create a £15 million sterling "super-dairy" at its plant in Chadwell Heath, London. The company said some of the production at the Lisnaskea plant would transfer to other Dairy Crest sites. The company's milk purchasing and processing are to be taken over by Southern-based processors Glanbia, who said contracts with existing suppliers would be honoured. A spokesman for Dairy Crest said the reorganisation would improve the efficiency of its business, "while continuing to provide the same wide range, quality and volume of products our customers want".
The company's general manager, Mr Alan Cecil, said it recognised the impact the decision would have on staff and families. "In order to minimise the effect on individuals, a special job shop will be set up to help with all aspects of job search. This facility has been successful in the past and we will ensure that all staff have access to this."
But this is little consolation to the people being made redundant in an area which has seen a spate of more than 500 job losses over the past two years. These have included the closure of three clothing factories - Adria in Lisnaskea, and Daintifyt in Irvinestown, and Desmonds in Enniskillen. The chairman of Fermanagh District Council, Councillor Gerry Gallagher, said he was concerned about the effect the decision would have on an economy which had already been undermined by the problems experienced by the farming community during the second half of the 1990s.
"This additional blow will have a severe impact on the lives of everyone in this area," Mr Gallagher said. "In addition to the 78 people who are employed directly by the factory, there are many more who benefit indirectly. All the retail businesses in the town which are trying to contend with the huge cross-Border currency difficulties will now suffer even more." Ulster Unionist councillor Ms Joan Carson also said that local people needed companies like Dairy Crest to invest, rather than shut up shop.
Since the deregulation of the milk sector in the mid1990s, several small operators have been forced out of business. The reduction in support measures and subsidies, coupled with increased commercial pressure from the supermarkets, have hit the liquid milk sector particularly hard. Earlier this month, Dromona Quality Foods announced the loss of 40 jobs with the closure of its Bangor Dairies plant. Dromona is the milk processing subsidiary of United Dairy Farmers, the co-operative established to take over the trading activities of the Milk Marketing Board with the deregulation of the dairy industry in 1995.
A spokesman for the company said that the Bangor operation had been incurring losses for some time due to fierce price competition in the liquid milk sector and the uneconomic size of the Bangor Dairies plant. The business is being sold to Ballyrashane Creamery, a farmer-owned co-operative located between Coleraine and Ballycastle in Co Antrim. Established in 1896, it is Northern Ireland's oldest farmers' co-operative and employs around 130 people in its processing and distributing activities.
Meanwhile, another 80 jobs are being lost in Lurgan as a result of the merger between rival processing firms Express Dairies and Golden Vale, which together employ around 400 people in Northern Ireland. Their decision to join forces is being seen as the inevitable result of the highly competitive liquid milk market, where there has been increasing pressure on margins. The two organisations have formed a joint venture company, Dale Farm Dairies Limited, 80 per cent owned by Express and 20 per cent by Golden Vale.
