Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
The 50th Anniversary of Guaranteed Irish: Discussion
Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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This is an issue that we in Ireland can probably speak to very well, particularly in the food sector. I do not think we are doing enough to support the idea of provenance. As Ms O'Connell rightly pointed out, the inputs of a lot of products made here are not made in Ireland or do not come from here. How would Guaranteed Irish provide licence for that input, particularly when it is coming through a number of jurisdictions or coming from the other side of the world? That is a hard thing to do. Certainly, there is a lot we can do, including the fact that Guaranteed Irish is being extended across services as well as manufacturing. However, that is a hard message to thread through to the consumer. On the one hand, they are looking at a product marked Guaranteed Irish, and then elsewhere they see a services company with the Guaranteed Irish brand. It is a little bit difficult. The committee would like to help with that. On the recognition for Guaranteed Irish members, they should, of course, be part of delegations. That is my opinion. I do not make the rules but we will try to help with that.