Wood firm's €14m investment sees jobs boost for Enniskeane

AN Enniskeane company has announced a €14m capital investment that will see a jobs boost for the area.

The managing director of timber manufacturing company GP Wood has said the company has the potential to hire even more staff, following this week’s announcement of the capital investment programme, which will create 27 direct and indirect jobs.

‘We have to be best in class,’ managing director Niall Grainger told The Southern Star. ‘We have already started the hiring process and the number of jobs that can be created may not stop at 27.’ 

‘We have a huge amount of confidence in what we are doing,’ he added. ‘This investment announcement is all focused on the Enniskeane plant and the reason why it’s happening now is that the fundamentals of the wood processing industry are right at the moment for this expansion. We want to put ourselves forward for that.’

This new investment will enable the company to fund an enhanced product range, as well as increasing plant capacity.

Created through the merger in 2013 of the Grainger plant in Enniskeane and the Palfab plant in Lissarda, GP Wood has a turnover of €49m, with exports of €21m, and it employs 133 staff with a further 242 indirect employees in their forestry operations.

‘It made sense to amalgamate the two companies as we both complement each other and we have a very low labour turnover, where most of our staff are local or come from West Cork or Mid Cork,’ added Grainger.

Following the amalgamation in 2013, GP Wood invested €6.3m in upgrading its facilities in Lissarda, which concentrates on larger logs, while the plant in Enniskeane focuses on smaller logs.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed TD, visited the plant this week and welcomed the investment announcement.

‘The commitment shown by GP Wood to continued development and innovation bodes well for their continued success. GP Wood are an important employer in the West Cork region and this significant investment is a real vote of confidence in the Irish timber industry,’ said he said.