By Business & Finance 
An expansion resulting in 30 new jobs has been announced today by Irish Distillers at an event to mark 50 years of bottling at its Fox and Geese facility in Clondalkin, Dublin.
The investment reflects the incredible pace of growth in the Irish whiskey category and will increase bottling capacity at the site from 5 million nine-litre cases to 7.5 million cases – or 120 million bottles – of Jameson per year by 2017. Irish Distillers has been supported by the Department of Jobs through Enterprise Ireland.
The Fox and Geese bottling site was first home to bottling of Powers Irish Whiskey, which relocated from Drury Street in 1965. Irish Distillers was formed in 1966 and became part of global spirits company Pernod Ricard in 1988, which repatriated bottling of Jameson Irish whiskey to the Dublin facility. Last year the facility bottled over 60 million bottles of Irish whiskey.
Speaking at the event, Anna Malmhake, CEO of Irish Distillers, commented: “Today marks a landmark moment in the history of Fox and Geese as we celebrate 50 years of bottling here and an expansion which will increase bottling capacity at the site by 60%. This is part of a wider investment programme which saw €200 million expansion of our distillery in Midleton and our maturation facility in Dungourney, Cork.
Welcoming the announcement, Michael Cantwell, head of Enterprise Ireland’s Food division, said: “Supporting innovation is at the heart of Enterprise Ireland’s strategy and we are delighted to work with Irish Distillers right across the country as they build their global business from Ireland.”
