Tirlán’s portfolio include many of Irelands leading dairy brands including Avonmore, Kilmeaden and Premier as well as international brands such as GAIN animal nutrition.

As a co-operative, Tirlán is 100% farmer owned, has 11 high tech processing facilities, 52 agri-branches and over 2,100 employees.

It recently started construction of new continental cheese plant at Belview in Co Kilkenny.

Sales revenue for 2022 is forecast to exceed €3 billion and the company currently exports to over 80 countries.

Glanbia plc will continue to operate under the Glanbia name as a separate entity and Tirlán will continue to hold a 31.9% share of that company.

It is expected that the plant will start producing cheese for the European market in 2024.

Glanbia says the new plant will be “one of the most efficient and sustainable” cheese-production units in Europe.

It will produce over 50,000 tonnes of cheese every year, including Edam, Gouda and Emmental, using about 450 million litres of milk from Glanbia suppliers every year.

“Glanbia Co-op currently sends some milk for processing by third parties during the peak milk supply months; the new facility will allow this milk to be brought in-house for processing in one of the most sustainable cheese plants in Europe. This will consolidate milk processing and reduce transport movements,” the company said .

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar and Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue attended the sod-turning ceremony at the site.

“It’s a huge boost for the south-east which has experienced significant and long overdue investment and jobs growth in the past year or two,” Mr Varadkar said.

“The UK’s decision to leave the European Union was a seismic event for Ireland’s agri-food sector and the over 163,000 people it employs here.”

Glanbia Co-op CEO Jim Bergin said the factory will help the company diversify their product offering, post-Brexit.

“This facility is essential in the context of a sustainable future for our Co-op and our sector as set out in our Living Proof sustainability strategy.”

Royal A-ware CEO Jan Anker said production of the cheese in Belview will allow them to bring “high-quality cheese, produced through a local supply chain, into the marketplace”.

During his term as CEO, Mr Hanley led the transformation of Lakeland Dairies to become the second largest dairy processing co-operative on the island of Ireland, with annual revenues of €1.3 billion.

As Member Relations manager he spearheaded the original 1990 campaign that saw the merger of Killeshandra and Lough Egish Co-operatives to form Lakeland Dairies.

The co-operative has acquired and integrated various businesses since including the biggest ever dairy co-op merger in Ireland in 2019 – the combination of Lakeland Dairies and Lacpatrick Dairies.

Over the past decade, Lakeland has invested over €200 million in new facilities and technologies, increasing milk supplies and processing capacity to a record level of over 2 billion litres.

“Personally it’s the right time for me to make this decision, following on from the record annual financial results reported for 2021,” Mr Hanley said.

“The Lakeland business is in excellent shape to pursue further growth and development, with the financial strength, the necessary resources and a highly experienced leadership team in place to continue the great progress that has been achieved collectively by all of us to date.”

The group recently reported a 20% increase in revenues to a record level of €1.3bn for 2021. Operating profit of €28.2m increased by 8%.