Whiskey following the same road as infant formula

I note with interest that the fast growing Irish whiskey sector seems to be following the same internationally controlled road as the infant formula sector. Ireland produces an estimated 10% to 15% of the global infant formula sector, but the brands are controlled by Swiss (Nestlé), US (Abbott) and French (Danone) companies operating here.

In the case of Irish whiskey, it is Jameson, owned by French giant Pernod Ricard, that is blazing a global trail, selling a staggering 4.9m cases in the past year. A number of other Irish whiskies are now being developed to capitalise on the category’s growth.

Last week, Walsh Whiskey distillery announced a €25m investment in Carlow, with a 50% share taken by Italian giant Saronno. Walsh Whiskey was founded in 1999 by Bernard and Rosemary Walsh from Carlow. Bernard hails from a Co Tipperary farming family.

The Italian/Carlow connection follows the €71m December 2011 acquisition of Cooley Distillery by US giant Beam. Meanwhile, whiskey distilling is returning to Tullamore for the first time in 60 years, with Scotland’s William E Grant currently building a new distillery.

There are other indigenous Irish whiskey operations commencing production, including Dingle Distillery and West Cork Distillers in Union Hall.

However, as we have seen in the infant formula sector, it appears that global players with far-reaching distribution strength are required to capture international markets.

Wexford horsebox togs out at Thurles Rugby Club

Almost a year ago we featured yet another stolen horsebox; this time it was stolen from Wexford.

We ran an advert on our classified website Toplink.ie to see if we could locate it and carried a story about it on the Dealer page.

Well, lo and behold, it has been found. The horsebox was located by gardaí in Clonmel where they reported that it was found abandoned at Thurles Rugby Club.

Why there? Well nobody knows, perhaps for collection or just to get rid of it following the Journal and Toplink.ie publicity.

Slaughtering JobBridge

The Dealer was browsing the internet the other day when something most interesting and unusual was stumbled upon on the government’s JobBridge website.

A meat processor in Cork is looking for an intern to work in their plant for the next nine months. Feoil Ó Criostóir (FOC) has advertised on JobBridge looking for a ‘slaughter person’ in its Ballincollig plant.

We’re told the ‘person must be willing to work on a busy kill floor as part of a team’, will have ‘early starts’ to look forward to and must be in ‘good general health’.

The job brief is simple and to the point. ‘The intern will gain practical experience...slaughtering cattle and sheep in an abattoir setting, experience in the dressing of carcases, experience in the evisceration of entrails, experience in basic hygiene practices,’ it says.

We’re also told that ‘on completion, the intern will have attained skills in the slaughter of sheep and cattle, skills in the dressing of carcases, and skills in food hygiene’. To carry out labour-intensive, demanding work for 35 hours a week over a nine-month period, the lucky candidate will receive €50 per week on top of their existing social welfare payment.

JobBridge has been the source of much derision and scorn by the general public, with many feeling it exploits the unemployed.

The Dealer feels working in a slaughter house is tough work and is deserving of more than €50 per week, despite the training the candidate would receive.