Each month, we put the spotlight on a Tirlán employee and for our February newsletter, we’re talking to Philip McCabe

Ensuring that Kilkenny Cheese Ltd is ready to begin operations from January 8th next year is now top of the work agenda for Strategic Programmes Manager with Tirlán, Philip McCabe.

“I’m part of the Tirlán Strategy team and am currently working on a number of projects including the ORP Programme for Project Orange. A big part of my role at the moment is to make sure that we have the people and the processes in place ahead of our start date next January.

“We have 80 people to hire in the next year. A number of roles have been filled and some are currently advertised such as Automation Manager, Quality Manager, Planning Manager and Environmental Health and Safety Manager.

“We will have other roles coming on stream after that. All roles can be viewed on the careers section of the Tirlán website and elsewhere. Anyone who helps us fill these positions is eligible for a referral bonus, so we’re asking everyone to keep their eyes and ears open so we can attract the best possible candidates.

“It’s currently a very competitive recruitment environment as we have full employment. Having said that, these are unique opportunities for people to start in a greenfield dairy plant. The dairy industry is also a very stable industry, particularly when you compare it to what is happening in the tech industry at the moment.

“This state-of-the-art plant will be here for the next 60 years and beyond… We’re very fortunate to have fantastic partners in Royal A-ware and this new team will be responsible for a whole new way of processing cheese in Ireland. It will be an exciting place to work.”

Philip will be eight years in Tirlán in April and revels in his role. He began as a HR Business Partner in Agri and was heavily involved in the transition to Glanbia Ireland. The decision to go back to our cooperative roots was a very positive one, he believes.

“It has been a landmark year. The move to Abbey Quarter was fantastic and it’s great to have the teams together in one building. It has been a huge game changer for us and it’s great to be back in the same building as the agri team, many of whom I wouldn’t have seen because of Covid. I really like the idea of being a cooperative and that we are returning shareholder value to our suppliers and our communities.”

How does he unwind from the demands of such a challenging role? “I do a bit of jogging. I have small children so unfortunately I’ve no time for golf or cycling presently! I like following Meath football in good times and bad. It’s great to see my old Economics teacher in charge of the team and Sean Boylan on the line!

“I’m also proud to be on the board of the local cancer charity, Cois Nore, and am delighted to see Tirlán sponsor the local 5k run. Every euro raised by the charity is put to good use in offering services that wouldn’t be available in Kilkenny otherwise.”

Tirlán was proud to support the Cois Nore 5km run which took place at Kilkenny Castle Park on Bank Holiday Monday.

Set up in 2013, Cois Nore is a cancer support centre based in Kilkenny. The services are free of charge and they provide a range of therapies for those diagnosed with cancer including counselling, fatigue management and information sessions such as communicating with children about cancer.

Nearly 400 people, including Tirlán colleagues and 64 children, took part in the run which took place on February 6th. Speaking to Overherd, Cois Nore Manager Mary Dolan thanked Tirlán and the wider community for their support. “Cois Nore had another great year with our ‘5k for Brigid’s Day’ event in Kilkenny’s Castle Park. So many people supported our work through their participation and our amazing volunteers gave so generously of their time to help organise the event. We couldn’t have staged the event without the support of our business sponsor Tirlán, our media sponsor KCLR and our partners the Kilkenny City Harriers Athletics Club. We are a community-based charity working hard throughout the year to support people through a very difficult time in their lives and this event will help us to continue providing our important services.”

The run is an important fundraiser for the charity. It costs the charity approximately €250,000 a year to run their services. They have over 450 active clients on their books and have worked with over 1,000 clients in Kilkenny and the surrounding areas. This is the second year that Tirlán has supported the run.

Overherd catches up with colleagues in China to see how they’re celebrating the new year

Chinese New Year celebrations took place at the end of January as millions of people around the world enjoyed travelling to see loved ones for the first time in years as lockdown restrictions eased in China.

2023 is the Year of the Rabbit and people born in this year are said to be kind and quietly confident. They steadily move towards their goals, no matter what negativity others give them. With good reasoning skills and attention to detail, they make great scholars. They are social beings with an attractive aura. However, they find it hard to open up to others and often turn to escapism.

With the Year of the Rabbit underway, Overherd caught up with Tirlán colleagues in China to find out how they enjoyed the New Year celebrations.

Barry Deng, Key Account Manager

During the CNY, thousands of people return to their hometowns for family reunions. And I’m one of the returnees.

After getting home, I cleaned the house with my family, pasted Spring couplets, have reunion dinner and sent New Year wishes to each other.

My favourite Chinese New Year tradition is to set off fireworks. It is believed that fireworks can take away the bad luck and make the New Year more lucky. Fireworks also make the atmosphere of Spring Festival even stronger.

Anne Chen, Assistant Marketing Manager 

Pictured are ‘Fa Gao’ traditional Hakka dessert made during the Spring Festival. The top shape looks like petal which means the New Year with happiness, wealth and good luck just like blooming flowers, it brings the blessing to people and ancestors.

During the Spring Festival, family members prepared incense, red candles, foods and goldleaf paper to worship our ancestors and we pray for the coming year safety and happiness. Burning is regarded as a way of transmitting information to the invisible, so at the end of the worship we will burn the goldleaf paper to ancestors and gods.

Tracy Wang, Assistant Logistics and Planning Manager       

The first day of the first lunar month is Spring Festival, the beginning of a New Year for China. The Spring Festival celebration is a continuous process starting from the 23rd or 24th of the 12th lunar month.

According to the Chinese traditions, people often worship the kitchen God, do Spring Festival shopping and house cleaning until New Year’s Eve on the lunar calendar.

We’ll paste the Chinese character ”Fu” and post Spring Festival couplets on door frames. The joyous atmosphere of CNY will linger until the first full moon of the first lunar month.

Claire Hou, Brand Manager

The annual lantern fair normally will open on the first day of the lunar New Year and last to January 15, according to the lunar calendar. At Shanghai’s Yu Garden, this year the lanterns are inspired from a Chinese ancient mythic text – The Classic of Mountains and Seas. There’s a very impressive Rabbit Lantern and kids are happy to get a small rabbit lantern.

Haley Zhang, Marketing Assistant

In my family, we cooked a lot of dishes this New Year. My dad also specially made sun shaped dumplings for me. My niece wore Hanfu to celebrate the Spring Festival on Spring Festival’s Eve, we all think she’s very cute and pretty. With the end of Covid-19 restrictions the streets are bustling again and many markets are open. There are also some traditional events in the market, such as Chinese shadow puppetry and sugar paintings. This year my friends and I also had the opportunity to set off fireworks together.

Sandy Ge, Tea Beverage Channel Manager

Before the New Year’s Eve, the family gathers in the elder’s home, and then pastes the word “fu” around the house. We then have fun setting off firecrackers and eating the reunion dinner. On New Year’s Eve the family watches the New Year’s Party together, perhaps playing with friends online or offline. When I was young my favorite thing was to receive red envelopes from elders. The Spring Festival means reunion when you grow up.

Steven Zhang, Head of Food Service Channel

During the Spring Festival holiday, I chose self-driving travel to adjacent province-Zhejiang. I planned to visit three places, however due to the traffic jam on the road I had to cut the intended route and reached only one resort finally. Someone pointed out this is a “Retaliatory Consumption” after three years Covid-19 activity restriction.

I’m happy to share with Tirlán colleagues some impressive scenes I witnessed blow.

Magnificent Hangzhou bay cross-sea bridge. It’s total 36km to connect two cities, where I think it’s one of the most unforgettable driving experiences.

Putuo Mountain is a well-known Buddhism paradise for Chinese people. According to the statistics 0.26million tourists visit Putuo Mountain within two days during Chinese New Year holiday. People pray gods to protect them a health and prosperous year of Rabbit.

A photo with the god of money (real man cosplay). It’s an emblem to get wealth