€138m whiskey maturation development gets the go-ahead

An Bord Pleanála has granted permission on appeal for the development of 12 Irish whiskey maturation warehouses at Moyvore, Co Westmeath.

The €138 million development by Vault Storage Limited will have the capacity to hold 200,000 whisky casks on a 100-acre site. Phase one of the project was originally expected to be completed by August.

The proposed development was refused planning permission earlier this year by Westmeath County Council on the grounds that it would be at odds with the rural landscape and would affect a nearby residential estate.

The Irish Whiskey Association (IWA), which supported the appeal by Vault Storage Lmited to An Bord Pleanála, welcomed its decision to grant permission for the project.

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"There can be no Irish whiskey without maturation on the island of Ireland," said its head William Lavelle.

Potential shortage

“Earlier this year, we were looking at a potential future shortage of maturation warehouse capacity. Thankfully, this positive decision from An Bord Pleanála, coupled with recent grants of planning permission for maturation warehousing in both Co Cavan and Co Antrim means the Irish whiskey industry can be assured that this threatened bottleneck in the production process will be avoided,” he added.

Figures published by the Central Statistics Office in November show the value of Irish whiskey exports grew 10.1 per cent during the first eight months of the year.

Irish whiskey is currently the fastest growing premium spirit in the world with sales growing at more than 10 per cent a year in more than 75 countries. The boom recently led the IWA, which originally set a target of doubling global sales of the spirit from six million nine-litre cases to 12 million by 2020, to seek to double them again to 24 million by 2030.