A TRIBUTE TO JIM

Leading the decision-making team at Dairygold is not an easy job by any means because it is certain that there are no simple calls.

The stress levels and commitment required are those akin to the senior manager of any massive conglomerate. The many sleepless nights spent trying to decide who wins and loses, where the cuts are needed to help the business survive in hard times and where to grow it in good times, must be a huge burden.

But that was Jim Woulfe’s position for the last 12 years, leading from the front in an agri business that rises and falls as often as waves break on a beach.

He announced that he was calling time on his career at the Mitchelstown headquartered company last Tuesday. A native of Ardagh, Co Limerick, he began his time in Ballyclough Co Op in Mallow back in 1979. His talents leading to a lifetime of service to the business spanning 42 years - a longer work life than the living years of many current staff.

He was the guiding hand on the tiller as the company grew, increasing revenue from €555m in 2009 to a stunning €1.02 billion by the end of 2020.

That is an extraordinary figure to reach and a mark of his steady and focused understanding of the developing business - to grow it by such a degree would risk the metaphor of finding a way to control those waves of business.

Jim Woulfe at the helm of Mitchelstown’s Dairygold has meant that it is this region’s biggest and greatest employer, making the lives of countless people more viable and happier as good wages roll in.

We wish him well in his upcoming retirement.