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The impressive sawmill plant in Fermoy, owned and run by The Glennon Brothers. Photo: Sandra Quinn

Since the Glennon Brothers company was first set up in Longford in 1913, it has grown from strength to strength and now there are plans for expansion in the Fermoy plant.

There are now two timber processing plants in Ireland, in Fermoy and Longford and two in Scotland, as well as having timber frame home manufacturing plants in Arklow and Scotland.

Log and timber trucks are a common sight on our roads and in our forestry rich areas, but a trip to the sawmill in Fermoy really puts that familiar sight into context, as Mike Glennon explained the key role that technology plays in this traditional industry and how important it is to make international contacts.

Over the years, the Glennon Brothers, Mike and Pat have had a number of milestone achievements, including being the first timber company to send shipments to France in 2009 and in January of this year, they were awarded the highly coveted Ruban D'honneur in the import export category of the European business awards.

Mike explained that they employ 150 directly and 70 people indirectly in Ireland, and that the majority of these jobs are in Fermoy and the company boasts an impressive annual turnover of more than €90 million.

The collapse of the construction industry was something which had the potential to hit the Glennon Brothers very hard, as they suddenly saw their business with builders and construction companies collapse.

"Overnight, the market disappeared and we had to fundamentally re-engineer the business and one of the biggest challenges facing us now is the potential sale of Coillte, as they provide 80% of the raw materials for sawmills in Ireland," Mike Glennon said. 

He added that the timber industry is directly aligned to the construction sector and so when they saw that there was not enough demand in the Irish market, they started to examine their options for strengthening export options - it is in this sector that they are now thriving and growing.

"In 2009, Glennon Brothers spent €23 million in the Irish economy, predominantly on raw materials, wages and salaries. In 2011, this figure increased by over 50%, to €35 million. This increase of €12 million was solely due to our increase in exports, as our sales in the home market remained unchanged," Mr Glennon explained.

The Glennon Brothers have invested more than €40 million in their company over the past 12-15 years and the bulk of that has been in Fermoy and now they have been granted planning permission for a €12 million expansion for the Fermoy plant, which is hoped to be finished by the end of this year.

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