C&C, which make Bulmers cider, has rejected reports that the company plans to move the production of Bulmers and Magners cider from its plant at Clonmel, Co Tipperary, to Scotland after it confirmed that some commercial staff will be made redundant.

A C&C spokesman told The Irish Times yesterday that reports that C&C were planning to move production of Bulmers and Magners from its plant at Annerville in Clonmel to its Tennant's brewery at Wellpark in Glasgow were "without foundation".

“C&C is committed to its manufacturing site in Clonmel and views it as a key manufacturing site. This will remain the case into the future, although naturally the group will continue to make commercial decisions, which may or may not impact the Clonmel site into the future.”

Last November, C&C acquired the Gleeson Group in a deal worth €58 million when C&C paid €12.4 million and took on Gleeson's debt of some €45.6 million, resulting in an expansion in C&C's workforce in Ireland from over 200 to 800

The Gleeson Group was established by the Gleeson family in Borrisoleigh in Co Tipperary in the late 1960s.

It manufacturers and distributes Tipperary Water and Finches soft drinks as well as distributing wines and beers such as Warsteiner, Duvel and Estrella.

On Wednesday, C&C management informed staff that it planned to integrate the commercial team at Bulmers Ireland with the Gleeson Group commercial team, with the transfer of staff scheduled for completion on June 28th.

According to a C&C spokesman, there are about 70 staff on the Bulmers commercial team, including personnel employed in sales and marketing, with the majority based in Dublin and about 25 based in Clonmel.

“There will be a number of redundancies as a result of this transfer [of Bulmers Commercial staff] but no number has been specified yet,” the C&C spokesman said.

He added that the group would now enter into consultation with the employees affected by the change.

It would only be after this period of consultation that the group would be in a position to confirm the number of redundancies, the C&C spokesman said.

The integration was necessary to safeguard and protect as many jobs as possible following the acquisition of Gleeson.

The Irish Times understands that up to 40 staff from the Bulmers commercial team may be made redundant.

It is expected that most of the sought-after redundancies will be on a voluntary basis.