Condensed Milk Company of Ireland

The Condensed Milk Company of Ireland Limited was an Irish manufacturer of dairy products and, in its heyday, the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom.

[2] Through his contacts with Irish farmers, Cleeve saw the potential to process milk and manufacture dairy products for home consumption and export.

Together with Edmond Russell,a local businessman, and William Beauchamp, a solicitor, Cleeve acquired Lansdowne, a site on the northern bank of the River Shannon.

Within ten years 60,000 tins of condensed milk were being produced daily at its Limerick headquarters, with 10,000 cows providing the raw material.

[2] By the end of the nineteenth century the Condensed Milk Company had 2,000 employees on its payroll and counted 3,000 farmers as suppliers of its raw material.

For instance, in May 1920 at Knocklong, County Limerick, the workers decided to escalate a pay dispute by taking over the company's creamery in the town.

They hoisted a red flag over the premises and erected a banner across the entrance which read "Knocklong Soviet Creamery, we make butter not profits."

At that stage, the government decided to break up the Dairy Disposal Company and transfer ownership of the creameries to a number of farmer co-operatives.

The final remnant of the original family business, Cleeve's Toffee, continued until 1985 when the company which had purchased the brand was liquidated.