With all the recent talk about "transfers from Brussels", one part of the country can hold up its head and say it is making serious transfers the other way.
A Co Laois-based company has just concluded a deal with a Belgian firm to sell over £8 million worth of limestone which will be used in the construction of buildings in Brussels.
McKeon Stone Ltd, Stradbally, Co Laois, has just concluded the deal with the Belgian Courtois n.v., which will have the exclusive rights to distribute the Irish stone in Belgium.
The commitment, according to the company's managing director, Mr Niall Kavanagh, is for the purchase of more than £1.5 million worth of limestone from Ireland over the next five years.
Mr Kavanagh explained that the Belgians commonly use limestone in their buildings, unlike Ireland and the UK, where concrete slabs are used in windows and doors. "The Belgians like their limestone and there is a growing demand for it as quarries in Belgium - and they have the largest limestone quarries in Europe - are under pressure," he said.
"Where we scored was that we have a marvellous quarry in Threecastles, in Kilkenny, which is reputed to have the best limestone in Europe.
"It is known as blue limestone and has a good, clear colour which cannot be matched anywhere else in Europe. It has the complexion that the Belgians need," he said.
Last year the company had invested approximately £1.25 million in stone-processing equipment which can deliver the stone in the methods required. "We cut out blocks of stone weighing about 20 tonnes, roughly the size of a large family car, and take it to the processing site to be dealt with," he said.
There, the blocks are sawn into the required lengths and widths, loaded into containers and shipped out to Belgium for distribution there.
Mr Kavanagh, who recently returned to Ireland to take over the running of the company, said the contract, which is worth at least £8 million, should help secure the future of the company. It was founded 49 years ago by the McKeon family and currently employs 50 people.