Irish blue limestone quarry company McKeon Stone, based in Stradbally, Co Laois, is the proud owner of a new Hitachi excavator that it bought following a visit to the Hillhead Quarry exhibition near Buxton in June this year. McKeon made a considerable saving on the purchase thanks to the fall in the pound following the Brexit vote, although it still costs about €500,000.

McKeon MD Niall Kavanagh told Natural Stone Specialist magazine: "We are very happy with it and already we have seen the fuel consumption more than halved. But the important factor is the reliability of this key machine on our quarry."