Local gardaí told the Irish Farmers Journal that a "minor workplace fire" occurred at the plant.

A spokesman for Lakeland confirmed that one of the two heating units of the milk processing plant had caught fire on Saturday.

"The suppression system put out the fire by itself. As a precaution, the area was evacuated and the fire brigade was called, but they did not need to deploy," the spokesman said.

No casualtie shave been reported and Lakeland said that the plant was functioning as usual on Sunday.