Glenisk rebuild could ‘take a year’

Catastrophic events can often be the catalyst for change, and the devastating fire which completely destroyed the Glenisk plant in Killeigh last week leaves the Cleary family with “almost a blank canvas to work with” as they begin the process of rebuilding their award-winning business, according to managing director, Vincent Cleary.

As he reflects on the events of the last 11 days since the family business was razed to the ground, a philosophical Mr Cleary says “in one respect it gives us a second chance, the plan is to completely rebuild the plant and that will probably take a year“.

In the meantime, he admits that he will have to be both “inventive and creative” in his efforts to retain his workforce of 90 people, many of whom have been working with Glenisk for 20 years or more.

“We have a duty of care to our staff, and also to the farmers who have been supplying us with organic milk, and while conventional thinking might suggest that it won’t be possible to retain all our staff, they are precious to us and they are critical to bringing our company back into production.”

Mr Cleary points out that all his staff are “highly-skilled and highly trained” and they have “left no stone unturned” in their efforts to bring part of the stricken plant back into production since last week’s fire.

The only section of the Glenisk plant that emerged unscathed from the fire was the milk production unit.

In a twist of fate, that was the very building where Vincent’s father, the late Jack Cleary, started the Tullamore Dairies milk bottling plant in 1980, which was the precursor of the current Glenisk business model. “You could say we were fortunate in our misfortune that the milk unit survived the fire,” he adds.

Just five days after the fire at Glenisk, the first cartons of organic goats milk came off the production line at the milk processing unit, once electricity and water had been restored to the building, which Mr Cleary says is a testament to the “resilience and hard work” of his loyal staff.

This small triumph for Glenisk was in complete contrast to the sombre scene which greeted Vincent Cleary when he arrived at the plant the morning after the fire.

“The staff had been told to remain at home, but many of them turned up and they were all huddled together in little groups, we were all shell-shocked, it was like the aftermath of a funeral,” he recalls.

Despite the shock and devastation, Mr Cleary says everyone was willing to do “whatever it took” to get the plant up and running again.

“We were all feeling very sorry for ourselves, but very quickly we realised we would have to put a plan in place to reopen, and the only viable option was to work towards getting the milk plant back into production since it was the only building left standing.”

In the interim, while the rebuilding plan is under way, Mr Cleary has set a timeframe of before Christmas to bring the Glenisk organic yogurt production facility back into production, which represents the bulk of the business, but he admits that this is “an ambitious target”.

“People are telling me it can’t be done, but that is the target and we will work towards it the best we can,” he says.

On a personal level, Mr Cleary says he has been “overwhelmed” by the goodwill shown to Glenisk since last week’s fire.

“I have been telling everyone how humbled I am by the genuine offers of support and goodwill, and I have probably over-used that word, but it has been one of the most humbling experiences of my life.”

While his car is doubling up as an office at the moment, the Glenisk managing director says the back seat is “piled high with letters and cards from locals and strangers alike with offers of help and support, we have been genuinely inundated, and it would be impossible to thank everyone individually.”

“I know many people say we live in a material world where everyone is just concerned about themselves, but I have seen no evidence of that,” he points out. “The amount of goodwill out there has been unbelievable and it has really restored my faith in humanity.”

At the time of last week’s fire, Glenisk were “in the middle of an expansion programme” and had builders on site. The last significant rebuild of the business was in 2007, and Mr Cleary now sees an opportunity to “embrace new technologies” and modernise the plant as part of a complete rebuilding programme.

“”While it has served us very well, the existing plant was probably inefficient and not ideal in a number of ways as it was made up of a large number of buildings and a lot of little rooms, and it was in one of those small rooms, which was unoccupied at the time, that the fire broke out,” he says.

Despite the opportunity to modernise the Glenisk plant, Mr Cleary does not underestimate the scale of the challenge ahead for the business started by his late father.

“I am being buoyed up and uplifted by the goodwill flowing our way both day and night, and by the genuine offers of help, but realistically we are looking at mid to late 2022 before the completion of our rebuild, and there will be plenty of challenges ahead.”