Mr. Conall O'Caoimh:

I am a friend of many of the lads in the office but institutionally ours is a distinct organisation. Just as the many trade unions collaborate, my organisation is part of a movement.

The second area of our work involves supporting producers who have nearly reached the standard so that they might improve. There are other organisations that help businesses to achieve certain results, such as getting the taste of their roasted coffee right. There are relatively few in Ireland and most are international. We are not experts in coffee roasting so we do not try to do that. We focus on finding a way into markets.

Deputy Neville asked about information and education. We have a programme of education in Irish schools, supported by Irish Aid, Trócaire and Concern. We have a pack for transition year students to explain the difference. We have a university programme, with the same funding and support, which addresses business students in order that they are more open to considering African products in the future.

That brings us to the point on bias. Unfortunately, while trade rules are the law when one holds a product in front of a buyer in Musgraves, Dunnes Stores or anywhere else, bias comes into play. People do not know what is available and there is an information gap. Everything might be right with a product and it might have international certification, but people are afraid that something will go wrong. We have had a number of sore experiences which have cost us months of work - we put in a lot of work to prepare a supply chain for a buyer. One person sat on an aircraft beside a businessman who told him to be careful. The person concerned telephoned us and said he had to pull back because if anything went wrong he would not be able to afford the sting. We engaged with the company for nine months and contracted an intern who worked on the product to get the best and strongest options. A distributor who had significant reach in Irish and European markets was turned back by a conversation on an aircraft. That is what I mean by bias.