Pictured at the unveiling on High Street, Dungarvan last Friday evening of ‘Daily Balance’, a sculpture by Patrick Barry to commemorate the near-hundred years during which the dairy industry operated on the site. From left: Cllr Gerry O’Mahony, Joe O’Flaherty, Town Clerk, Cllr Anne Marie Rossiter, Patrick Barry, Sculptor, Cllr Damien Geoghegan, Mayor of Dungarvan, Tom Keith, Dungarvan Town Council, Denis Herlihy, Area Manager for West Waterford, Glanbia; Cllr Ciara Conway, Kieran O’Connor, Glanbia Plc, Cllr. Teresa Wright and Liam Herlihy, Chairman, Glanbia Plc.      | Photo: Rory Wyley

Pictured at the unveiling on High Street, Dungarvan last Friday evening of ‘Daily Balance’, a sculpture by Patrick Barry to commemorate the near-hundred years during which the dairy industry operated on the site. From left: Cllr Gerry O’Mahony, Joe O’Flaherty, Town Clerk, Cllr Anne Marie Rossiter, Patrick Barry, Sculptor, Cllr Damien Geoghegan, Mayor of Dungarvan, Tom Keith, Dungarvan Town Council, Denis Herlihy, Area Manager for West Waterford, Glanbia; Cllr Ciara Conway, Kieran O’Connor, Glanbia Plc, Cllr. Teresa Wright and Liam Herlihy, Chairman, Glanbia Plc. | Photo: Rory Wyley

The legacy of Dungarvan co-op was marked by the unveiling of a sculpture at High Street in the town last Friday evening.

 

The Mayor of Dungarvan, Cllr Damien Geoghegan said they were acknowledging “an institution which operated successfully in this town for almost a century and which in that time, provided substantial and stable employment to a loyal and appreciative workforce and which formed part of the economic backbone of Dungarvan and West Waterford.”

The local dairy processing plant was closed in 1998 after production was shifted to Kilkenny following the merger of Avonmore and Waterford Foods. Around 130 jobs were lost locally as a result.

In its place the development of the Dungarvan Shopping Centre complex by Clancy Construction (who were represented by Gerry Clancy) “has considerably brightened the economic horizon of Dungarvan and goes a substantial way to make up for what we had lost,” the Mayor said.

He described the sculpture – which was co-funded by the Town Council and Glanbia plc, who retain a shared services centre at the Friary on Main Street – as “a splendid piece of work, appropriate to the location and a nostalgic reminder of ‘the good old days’.

 
See The Munster Express newspaper for full story.