One of Ireland’s leading producers of organic salmon, Connemara-based Cill Chiaráin Éisc Teoranta, has completed a substantial €543,000 investment aimed at future-proofing the business and protecting local jobs.

The production arm of the Irish Seafood Producers Group, CCET has transformed its operations through the investment, increasing quality and efficiency and upscaling production of value-added products.

A significant €272,000 of the total investment was grant aided under the Brexit Process Capital Support Scheme recommended by the Seafood Taskforce established by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, and implemented by Bord Iascaigh Mhara. The scheme is funded by the European Union under the Brexit Adjustment Reserve.

The substantial development includes the addition of automated portion, skinning and strapping machines which have added to efficiency by speeding up production on the factory floor and reducing costs.

The automated portioning machine has cut down on the long hours it used to take to portion fish manually, something which often meant the factory needed to open a second day to finish off orders for customers.

“The investment also includes a new temperature control which means salmon can be stored longer in the plant allowing producers to schedule harvesting in a more efficient manner and reduce lost harvesting days due to bad weather,” revealed Bridie Casey, Financial Controller of CCET.

“We are very excited about the energy efficiencies. Everything now is geared towards being sustainable and our ambition is to cut down on our carbon footprint and to one day be carbon neutral.”

Caption: One of Ireland’s leading producers of organic salmon, Connemara-based Cill Chiaráin Éisc Teoranta (CCET), has completed a substantial €543,000 investment aimed at future-proofing the business and protecting local jobs. Pictured are Gerard Madden, Operations Manager and Bridie Casey, Financial Controller near the factory site in Cill Chiarain. Photo: Andrew Downes, XPOSURE

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