Ms Colette Twomey:

Ireland is exceptionally rich in its traditions, and one of the finest is Clonakilty black pudding, a product that has embraced from its origins the importance of local food, which Ms McCarthy spoke of earlier. To this day it remains true to its original recipe from the 1880s. Starting with my husband in our local butcher shop in 1976, and servicing Clonakilty, today our customer base extends outside the local area, through national distribution in both retail and food service. Today, after almost 40 years in the business, I am proud to say that we are the leading pudding producer in Ireland, producing over 20 tonnes of product per week.

We use only Irish beef and pork in our pudding, sausages, rashers and bacon joints. We have approximately 25% of the total retail market in pudding. I am the sole owner of the company and the only person who knows the secret spice mix for our famous Clonakilty black pudding. We are conscious of our role in the local community, sourcing ingredients in Ireland. In addition to all our beef and pork being Irish, Flahavan's has been supplying us with pinhead oats for over 40 years. These oats give our puddings that lovely crumbly texture.

Today we have 48 staff and have plans to return production to Clonakilty from the factory in Cork. We have national distribution in Ireland and our growth ambitions are in the export markets, where our range is available in the UK, mainland Europe and Australia. Some of the key accounts in the UK include Selfridges, Budgens, Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, Waitrose and Sainsbury.

We have received a lot of support from the State and from colleagues in the food industry to help us get to where we are. Bord Bia supported us by participating in tastings around the country, and these proved to be a fantastic launch pad. Since then, we have participated in many of the programmes that Ms McCarthy mentioned, and we have benefited strongly. Today, we are members of the Bord Bia brand forum, and if I cannot attend I always have one of my team attend. The access to insight and best practice is unequalled at the forum. We were also assisted with early export attempts when Bord Bia held our hands through the challenges a first-time exporter faces, and we continue to participate in the UK support programme. In addition, through the fellowship programme we were able to broaden our footprint as far away as Australia.

Most recently, we started in the Digital Food Hub to help us communicate our message and brand more strongly in the digital age. Last week, we participated in the Bord Bia flagship marketplace international event, where we hosted 18 buyer meetings over the course of one day. Enterprise Ireland has supported me in my personal journey, most recently through the leadership of programme. I learned a lot from the academics present and more from the other participating food practitioners. The food industry is an exciting one and I am delighted that in recent years it is getting the recognition it deserves as a leading pillar of the economy. Its contribution to the country, through jobs and investment in rural areas, is unparalleled, and I hope innovative programmes for businesses such as Food Works and Food Academy, as well as events like Marketplace International and the brand forum, remain the focus of organisations such as Bord Bia, local enterprise offices and enterprise boards.