Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 24 April 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

The 50th Anniversary of Guaranteed Irish: Discussion

Ms Sinead Mitchell:

I thank the Deputy and all the members for having us here this morning. We launched the guarantee of Guaranteed Irish campaign on 1 March of this year, and March is Guaranteed Irish month. This year, we were obviously celebrating a bigger birthday than that, so we had lots to talk about.

With the guarantee of Guaranteed Irish campaign, we did not just want to focus on made in Ireland, as we have discussed already, but the pillars of Guaranteed Irish, what we support and what we offer in the national symbol of trust. We focused the campaign on jobs, community and provenance. We had a nice video that went out on programmatic online, which had some lovely statistics and a voice-over explaining how our members give back to the community and all about the jobs they support. We also did a radio ad which was played on national radio stations and regionally. Some of our members got behind that. We made a Guaranteed Irish version of the ad and some of our members joined us within the advertisements. We had assets made that we were able to use on social media. Again, those focused on jobs or community and provenance. It is about trying to create awareness and an education for the citizens of Ireland on what we are about and what we are trying to do. That is ongoing throughout this year. We had a big burst in March and we will continue throughout the year. We also had the Guaranteed Irish magazine that we launched with The Irish Times. We have a few of them to hand here. It explains the varied members we have. It is a very interesting read. It shows that it is not just about food but all the different sectors. That is where the events are brought in behind that. The ecosystem is extremely important so that our members can all network and find suppliers within their niche and community. We allow them events and opportunities to meet each other. That is the guarantee of Guaranteed Irish. Hopefully the Deputy will hear a bit more about that.