Three Irish agribusinesses – Inform Nutrition, Irish Distillers and Kerry Group – have all teamed up to start making alcohol-based hand sanitiser, which they are providing directly to the HSE free of charge in a bid to help fight the spread of coronavirus.

Noting a shortage of hand sanitiser gel in pharmacies, William Twomey of Inform Nutrition approached the HSE last week to say his company could start making hand sanitiser gel free of charge, if it could get access to a large-scale supply of alcohol.

Irish Distillers, the maker of Jameson whiskey, was able to help and provided the alcohol free of charge to Inform to make the product.

Kerry Group’s enzyme business in Carrigaline, Co Cork, is also collaborating by providing the enzyme that Irish distillers uses to turn barley into alcohol free of charge.

A spokesperson for Inform Nutrition said that the HSE and the Department of Agriculture worked tirelessly last week to fast-track certification of the hand-sanitiser gel to ensure that it met all medical standards.

Inform Nutrition normally manufactures a range of nutritional products for livestock and will be best known to farmers for its Sweetlics brand of mineral lick and its Milkshake brand of milk acidifier.

Meanwhile, Guinness manufacturer Diageo has also said it would supply two million litres of alcohol to help make hand sanitiser, while GAA equipment manufacturer O’Neills Sportswear has said it will begin making scrubs for frontline healthcare staff fighting the coronavirus.