Calls are being made for the re-establishment of an Irish sugar industry.

The Irish Grain Growers association has started holding meetings in Leinster and Munster and is explaining how beet growing can be revived.

At a meeting in Bunclody, Co Wexford last night, more than 200 farmers from across Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny heard Beet Ireland’s plan to get beet growing restarted.

Many farmers who attended said they were fully supportive of the move.

The meeting was addressed by Bobby Miller, who is chairman of the Irish Grain Growers association.

Ireland’s last remaining sugar factories in Carlow and Mallow closed over the past 12 years.

In the past, thousands of farmers were involved in beet growing and hundreds employed in the beet factories.