Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
WHEN DOES AN Irish brand lose the rights to keep claiming its emerald-green heritage?
Is it when the label is taken over by a multinational firm with much, much deeper pockets than its one-time owners?
Or does the Irish tricolour start to fade once the last factory shuts up shop in the Republic and production of that household name is packed off to foreign shores?
This week, a survey from home-grown produce lobbyists Love Irish Food found the lion’s share of locals tried to “buy Irish” when they could – although what qualifies for that tag is often harder to piece together.
So let’s revisit that issue as we take a look back at what has been happening in the world in and around business lately:
Need to know
Not all that glistens green is Irish
Ireland’s most popular tea brand, Lyons,began its blending life in Dublin in 1902 – just a year after its big rival, Barry’s, started cooking up something in Cork.
But for several years, after the brand was bought up by Anglo-Dutch grocery giant Unilever in 1996, that most Irish of teas has been packed in, wait for it, the UK.
The raw tea ingredients are sourced in Africa and the sub-continent, much like its competitor Barry’s, and the company is quick to point out its brew is still blended to suit the Irish palate.
So does that, coupled with the company’s history, mean it can still lay claim to being one of “Ireland’s biggest and best-loved brands” as the website says? We’re sure Lyons (via its €95 billion parent Unilever) would argue it does.
However our readers weren’t quite so convinced. As one, David Higgs, put it: “Settles that age old conflict – which is better – Barry’s or Lyons.”
However, things are rarely as simple as a straightforward Irish/not-Irish proposition when it comes to processed foods, and a quick name-check of some big brands still made in the Republic highlights the problems in drawing a clear distinction.
Robert Roberts still blends its coffee in Dublin after over a century in the city but the raw ingredients, naturally, come from a long way off these green shores. Meanwhile, another domestic success story, SuperMac’s, can only guarantee its meat and a few other products are born-and-bred Irish.
Dairy is an easier nut to crack, with big labels like Avonmore and Kilmeaden still shipping from Irish farms to local factories. And while their owner, Glanbia, has become a global food player, its headquarters remain in the heartland of Kilkenny.
And does any of this even matter? The surveys may say yes, but as another one of our learned commentators asked – would you really buy an inferior product just because it was Irish?
US billionaire John Malone bought another Irish hotel, paying circa-€20 million for the Limerick Strand Hotel this time around. Malone is the biggest private landowner in his home country, but he made his fortune in the cable business – where his ruthless approach to the trade earned him the nickname “Darth Vader” from former US vice-president Al Gore
Sweden gave Ireland the all-clear to offload a big chunk of its bailout debt ahead of schedule after it agreed to waive its right to an early repayment. The move could save the Irish exchequer up to €400 million a year in lower interest repayments now it can pay off the loans with cheaper money sourced on the general market
A bunch of Irish entrepreneurs got a boost this week when their Kickstarter projects hit their targets. Two local companies, myVolts with its Z-Charge and Rob O’Reilly Guitars with its Expressive, were among the first successful offerings since the crowdfunding site went live for Irish projects
Dublin’s first new hotel to open in nearly 2 years started taking guests today and a look inside reveals its designers have gone into hipster-matic overdrive. Rooms in The Dean Hotel, in Harcourt St, come with everything from vinyl and turntables, to Marshall guitar amps, a poker table and foosball
Cultural differences… is there a richer picking ground for humour? Judging from this video, no there isn’t.
The latest in an ongoing series in which Irish people tangle with the foibles of their US cousins, this one involves locals getting their first sample of some of the more-acquired tastes in American sodas.
Like this, on something called ‘Grape’: “The last ingredient in the contents just says ‘blue’.”
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Oh I don’t know.. I would have thought you have to make a distinction between an Irish brand and an Irish product. Barrys, Bewleys, Robert Roberts, Guinness, Baileys, Kerrygold, Dairygold, Kerry are all Irish brands. And all provide jobs in Ireland. And they are Irish products by virtue of being processed here. But Lyons is an Irish Brand with only a tenuous connection to Ireland. Similarly HB. I do think we need better labelling with more information – how much of the chicken we eat here, branded or not, is bred in Ireland and how much of it comes from Thailand but is packed here. A lot of the black pudding we eat is made with dried blood that comes from Poland.
And when we need a postcode the government first of all uses a british consultancy firm who unsurprisingly hands the tender to a British multinational.
They didn’t even look at any of the 3 Irish postcode technologies.
Same with Guaranteed Irish who recently changed all their computers and servers without even considering an Irish brand.
Parents of under-18s most sceptical demographic of vaccines in Ireland
Lauren Boland
1 hr ago
449
Wealth
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown has wealthiest households with €85,000 average income
2 hrs ago
5.9k
21
Courts
Trial underway for Dublin man charged with murder of girlfriend while on holiday in Spain
7 hrs ago
35.7k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 175 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 117 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 155 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 121 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 87 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 88 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 42 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 143 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 67 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 83 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 90 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 52 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 28 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 99 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 107 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 76 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 57 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 96 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 77 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say