Fears of job losses at Kepak Clonee

There are fears that job losses are looming at Kepak's Clonee facility after the company announced a review of its deboning and cutting operation earlier this week.

Kepak says the review is necessitated by the "ongoing supply challenges" across the Irish beef sector that has reduced cattle kills, leading to lower processing volumes.

In a statement the company said: "As a consequence of these national beef sector changes, Kepak currently has more beef deboning and cutting capacity than supply can sustain.

"While this imbalance has been managed in recent years through adjustments to working hours and shift patterns, many employees have consistently not worked full weeks.

"The purpose of the review is to better align beef deboning and cutting capacity with the longer-term beef supply outlook thus supporting more stable, predictable and sustainable employment and business."

It goes on to state that the abattoir at Clonee is not affected by the review and will remain fully operational and that Kepak will continue to source and slaughter cattle from its farmer supply base, as it has done at the site for more than 45 years.

A 30-day consultation process with potentially impacted employees is under way and the company said no decisions arising from the Clonee deboning capacity review have been made at this stage.

"As the review relates to specific operations rather than the entire site, it would be inappropriate to speculate on its outcome," the statement said.

The company said it recognises the uncertainty this review creates for its staff and understands the concern involved. Kepak says it is committed to engaging openly with them throughout the consultation, supporting those affected, exploring redeployment opportunities across its other sites with the objective of retaining as many staff as possible as Kepak employees.

The company did not disclose how many jobs could be under threat.