Portlaw has been known as "The Tannery Town" because of the presence of the leather tannery in the village. This industry closed during the 1980's and the people of Portlaw were devastated. In 1993 a new state of the art tannery was opened just outside Portlaw by an Australian company called Michell. Strict environmental conditions had to be met to ensure there would not be any pollution of the river Suir. Waste from the factory had to go through many cleaning tanks before it was allowed enter the river.
The factory brings hides to wet blue stage which is then exported. Michell does not finish the leather in Portlaw, much of the wet blue is used for seats in car manufacturing. It also made "doggie chews" which were exported to the U.S.A. the factory now employs people from Portlaw and the surrounding areas. There are 100 approx. employed in the factory.
The
official opening of the factory was done by a boy from Portlaw N.S. and a girl
from the Presentation school in Carrick. Eoin Galvin was chosen from our
school and given the honour of opening the tannery on November 11th 1993
