Plans for a €7m whiskey distillery in Kilmacthomas have been plunged into doubt, as the company behind the plans has now been placed into examinership.
Gortinore Distillers had been granted planning approval for the construction of a €7m million whiskey distillery in Kilmacthomas in November of 2020.
The group, led by businessman Aidan Mehigan, acquired the lease for The Old Mill in Kilmacthomas from Waterford Council in 2016.
It had been planned that they would renovate the site into a distillery and adjoining visitor centre, which would create 15-full-time jobs and produce one million bottles of Irish whiskey every year.
The building first served as a woollen mill in the 1850s and was later home to Flahavans.
A report in this week's Dungarvan Observer outlined that Waterford Council will now seek alternative proposals for the derelict site - and they informed councillors of the current situation at the July meeting of the Comeragh District of the local authority.
Mr. Mehigan had given a presentation to District Councillors in 2021, where he outlined that it was his ambition that the distillery would be an entirely carbon-neutral facility.
It was hoped that renovation work would begin in February of last year, and that whiskey would be distilled around this current time of year.
A full report is set to be circulated to councillors at their September meeting, as well as alternative proposals for the site.
According to the Irish Independent, Mr. Mehigan has cited Covid as the reason behind his business' move into examinership - and he's hopeful that they will secure up to €4m in funding to stay afloat and trading.
An interim examiner, Shane McCarthy from KPMG, has been appointed to the whiskey company after the owner of an €850,000 loan note provided to Gortinore Distillers in 2018 initially moved to put the business into receivership.
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