While the milkman may seem like a relic of the past, the local and sustainable elements are finding their place in modern life, with some customers favouring the ease of doorstep deliveries.

Milkman Clive Ledwith based in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath began delivering milk 17 years ago, and can see popularity for the service growing.

"When I started, the milkman used to be a thing that was years ago, but now its getting more and more common again because I can see my numbers increasing and people are adding extra stuff to their orders now as well," Ledwith said.

Ledwith works as part of the crew at the Mymilkman.ie, run by Tirlán, which ensures fresh deliveries of milk and dairy products to most communities each day.

The story of the milkman goes back as far as the early 1900s, with horse-drawn carts and milk churns, turning to the use of electric milk floats of the 1960’s.

When thinking about the milkman, it can be easy to picture the nostalgic glass bottles, delivered to doorsteps right up to the early 1990’s.

While tradition has been brought back, technology has also been embraced, as customers can now fill in their details to be matched with a milkman in their local area via the Milkman.ie app, and from there select products and fill in weekly orders.

From there, the milkman can access the load list for each customer before heading out for deliveries. Anything from the Avonmore range can be added to orders from varying milk types to butter, cheese, cream and yoghurt.

Ledwith has about 600 houses that he delivers to in Mullingar with one side of town receiving milk on Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, and the other side receiving milk on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning. He also delivers to around 110 houses in his own local area in Multyfarnham.

"Everything is app-based now. Everyone is on their phones and on their screens and it helps us too. It's just another app on your phone, and you can change your order right up until 9:00p.m tonight to get stuff tomorrow morning," Ledwith said.

In an era dominated by online shopping, the app allows customers to stay on top of groceries, with some people also getting bread delivered.

Ledwith has also delivered a newspaper or two for some customers and there was even a time during the Covid-19 lockdown when he delivered a takeaway to someone's door.

While the milkman may have left the scene for some time, it seems the door is wide open for a return.