Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I would like to raise a matter with the Minister on the selling of Irish foodstuffs abroad and throughout Europe. This matter was brought to my attention last week by an Irish person living abroad and he asked me to raise it with the Minister. I did not realise I would have an opportunity to do this so soon. Unfortunately, we have a number of agents and non-food producers throughout Europe who are claiming to sell Irish products, such as butter and cheese, although they are sourced in Germany and other countries. I know the Minister spoke about this in the past. It is a real problem in that people go into supermarkets in countries such as Spain and Italy and purchase butter "Irlandais", although it is not Irish butter at all. This is not doing anything for our industry abroad.

I thank the Minister for taking the time to listen to my point and I ask him to do whatever he can to ensure that something is done about those who bought patents years ago that allow them to sell German butter or milk in other countries and claim they are sourced in Ireland. Something must be done to protect the name of Ireland as a trademark. The individual who raised this issue is furious about the way in which people throughout Europe are using our name and falsely claiming to have products from this country.