Ardagh Group May Build Glass Plant in Republic

PACKAGING GIANT Ardagh is moving ahead with plans to return to manufacturing in the Republic. The group is also poised to close a €721 million agreement to buy US manufacturer Anchor Glass, which it announced last month.

Ardagh ended manufacturing in Ireland in 2002 when it closed the Irish Glass Bottle plant at Ringsend, the site of which was later sold for €412 million in what turned out to be one of the property boom’s most notorious deals.

Earlier this year, chief executive Paul Coulson and his colleague, chief financial officer Niall Wall, said the group is considering building a new glass manufacturing plant in the Republic.