Marine Harvest Ireland agrees deal for €20m of fish to be processed in Connemara in 2015

Marine Harvest Ireland (MHI) has contracted Cill Chiaráin Éisc Teoranta to process €20m of fish from its Kilkieran Bay site in Connemara next year.

MHI currently employs 15 staff on the site, which it has been operating since October 2013. The agreement will see €20m worth of its ‘Irish Organic Salmon Co’ product processed by Cill Chiaráin Éisc Teoranta between March and July 2015. Around 85pc of the processed product will be exported to 15 countries worldwide.

“Marine Harvest Ireland looks to work with local partners and suppliers where at all possible and we utilise in excess of 600 local suppliers across the country,” said Pat Connors, sales and processing director, Marine Harvest Ireland.

“We are delighted therefore, to announce this agreement, which will see our fish processed here in Kilkieran, making it a truly local operation. This is a significant investment and if we can bring the stock safely through to harvest in the spring of next year, will represent a major supply line for our global export business.”

Cill Chiaráin Éisc Teoranta was established in 1988 and currently employs 45 people. Based in Kilkieran, it is part of the Irish Seafood Producers Group (ISPG), Ireland’s leading supplier of organic salmon and organic trout farmed at sea.

“This is an important contract for us, with Marine Harvest being a both global name and Ireland’s leading salmon producer,” said Cill Chiaráin Éisc Teoranta MD Liam Roche. “Moreover, we are very pleased to have this activity taking place in Kilkieran, not just for the staff at our facility, but for the area as a whole. It is our hope that this can be a catalyst for further investment and activity.”

Marine Harvest Ireland was founded in 1979. It is the only producer of organic salmon in the Marine Harvest Group. The company employs over 280 people in Ireland.