Pullout from St James's Gate only abandoned after outcry
Diageo, the company that makes Guinness, admitted this weekend that it first looked at selling the entire St James's Gate site last year, and only rolled back from that after a public backlash.
It has also emerged that the company faces major difficulties in securing agreement with Dublin City Council about its intended downscaling of operations with many key details not yet finalised.
The Sunday Independent first broke the story last June about the company's wishes to move operations to a new greenfield site on the edge of Dublin.
It was confirmed at that stage that a full pullout from the Liffeyside site was favoured as was the closing of the smaller Dundalk and Kilkenny sites. But the public uproar forced the company into a major rethink.
Guinness is a deeply conservative company and the decision to have every pint for Ireland made only at St James's Gate reflects how spooked they were by the public reaction to their intended plans to pull out of the iconic site.
Diageo CEO Paul Walsh and other senior management announced in Dublin on Friday that the company is to spend €650m to build the new plant, and to facilitate the closing of the Dundalk and Kilkenny sites, with the loss of at least 250 jobs. Operations in Waterford are also to be scaled down.
Walsh said: "We looked at all the options, including the total withdrawal from St James's Gate. But we spoke to our customers and we are aware of how important the link of St James's Gate is to people in Ireland and in Britain."
About half of the largely dormant 55-acre site is to be sold off at a current estimated value of €500m, as are the sites in Dundalk and Kilkenny which will help fund the massive investment.
The Sunday Independent has also learned that the search for the new site is at an advanced stage with three locations being considered strongly at present.
- DANIEL McCONNELL
