A Carlow sheep processing plant will close its doors today with the loss of nearly 50 local jobs.
The Kepak group announced back in January that it was reviewing operations at its lamb abbatoir in Hacketstown.
On February 14th the group revealed that business at the site would cease as no commercially sustainable solutions were identified following that review.
Kepak said it will work with any staff willing to relocate to any of the groups other operations in Ireland and has offered local sheep farmers the option to have their lambs processed at its plant in Roscommon.
However farmers have told KCLR that may be difficult for them.
The plant in Hacketstown has been in business for 27 years but has been operating on a 2 or 3 day week for the past few years.