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Yes, Barry's Tea is still Irish Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland

OK, so there ARE a few Irish brands out there that are still Irish. At least, mostly Irish...

But it gets more complicated when you look at where the raw product comes from.

MANY ICONIC IRISH brands remain true to their roots and are still being made in their home country – although often they rely on imported ingredients for the final product.

Yesterday TheJournal.ie looked at the growing number of well-known Irish brands which are now in the hands of multinationals and are being manufactured offshore.

But lobby group Love Irish Food also has an extensive list of member brands whose products are made in Ireland – and whose products carry its logo in the absence of mandatory country-of-origin labelling for food and drink items.

Its recent survey found 95% of local consumers supported source labelling on all grocery products, not just on fresh produce like meat and fish.

Executive director Kieran Rumley said the basic criteria for products to carry the Love Irish Food branding was that 80% of its value had to be produced in Ireland using locally-sourced ingredients “where possible”.

There will obviously be exceptions where a product’s raw material is not available here in Ireland,” he said.

That covers Love Irish Food-endorsed coffee and tea products, for example, although Rumley added that the key processes for those goods – the roasting and blending procedures – would still have to be done locally.

Colombia - Coffee Triangle 012 - coffee plantation tour Ireland is short on coffee plantations, like this one in Columbia mckaysavage mckaysavage

The group said over €3 billion was being spent on food and drink imports each year in Ireland, while 300,000 people were employed either directly or indirectly in the domestic agri-food industry.

So what IS still made in Ireland?

While Lyons Tea was bought out by Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever in 1996 and now manufactures its products in the UK, main rival Barry’s Tea is still blended in Cork – although the raw product is sourced in Africa and India.

Avonmore, which merged with Waterford Foods in 1997 and later became Kilkenny-headquartered global food group Glanbia, sources all its dairy products from Irish farms and makes them in various local factories.

.  Picnic season is back. L-R Lochlann Hackett aged 10, Loran Sullivan 17, James Sullivan 12, Leonie Hackett 7 and Roisin Hackett 11 roll out their picnic blanket for the launch of the second annual Avonmore Big Picnic for Barretstow Avonmore milk... still Irish

Similarly, Avonmore’s soups are made in Kilkenny City, while another Glanbia brand, Kilmeaden Cheese, is also made in Ireland, although production has been shifted from its namesake town to Ballragget in Co Kilkenny.

Meanwhile, Glanbia has become an international food player and is listed on both the Irish and London stock exchanges, and has joint ventures in the US, UK and Africa.

Water, burgers and coffee

When it comes to water, one of Ireland’s biggest brands, Deep RiverRock, was introduced to the island by parent company Coca-Cola in 1994 – but the water is sourced and bottled in Northern Ireland’s Co Antrim.

In contrast, Ballygowan’s water comes from a spring next to its Co Limerick factory – where the product is also bottled – although the brand is owned by UK company Britvic, which inherited the label when it bought out C&C Soft Drinks in Ireland.

Ballygowan Bottle Launch Ballygowan water... still Irish Graham Hughes / Photocall Ireland Graham Hughes / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

Home-grown fast food chain SuperMac’s has also signed up to the Love Irish Food campaign and sources all its meats from Irish farms – but beyond that, it only guarantees to use “quality Irish product whenever possible”.

The company’s beef burgers and breakfasts carry the Irish branding, while other products like its processed chicken and fries don’t.

Supermac's This Supermac's heart attack... still Irish Flickr Flickr

Robert Roberts has been roasting its coffee in Dublin for over 100 years and its teas are also blended in the capital although, no big surprises here, the ingredients are again imported.

Valeo Foods, the same Anglo-Irish firm which manufactures Irish brands Fruitfield and Jacob’s Biscuits offshore, bought Robert Roberts from DCC Food & Beverages only a few months ago.

A full list of Love Irish Food-endorsed products can be found on the group’s website.

READ: Think these much-loved Irish products actually come from Ireland? Well, think again >

READ: Supermacs really do have giant billboards in Times Square >

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30 Comments
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    Mute Julian King
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    Nov 21st 2012, 1:55 PM

    Don’t we have enough on our plate.

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    Mute Tony Skillington
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    Nov 21st 2012, 6:31 PM

    Our tectonic plate…

    83
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    Mute Dexter Gordon
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    Nov 22nd 2012, 10:32 AM

    I felt it down here in Cork.

    3
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    Mute Tony O'Sullivan
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    Nov 21st 2012, 2:12 PM

    That’ll teach them to vote ‘No.’

    138
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    Mute rAQ3s6VB
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    Nov 21st 2012, 1:48 PM

    The apocalypse is near.

    127
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    Mute John the Baptist
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    Nov 21st 2012, 1:55 PM

    Yes Muhamed,

    Betya the ‘Shell to Sea’ crusties will be on before the day is out with their Doomsday Sh1t

    60
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    Mute Colm Clarke
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    Nov 21st 2012, 5:40 PM

    felt a small shake myself here in Christchurch . just looked it up on geo-net and it registered at 2.7 .

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    Mute Colm OConnor
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    Nov 22nd 2012, 10:26 PM

    Stupid comment John the Baptist

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    Mute Louise Coffey
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    Nov 21st 2012, 3:50 PM

    To anyone that said this isn’t news! Stop being so bloody serious. Its interesting info, and I wouldnt have known about it otherwise, and besides the facebook status update titled “EARTHQUAKE!!!” made me laugh out loud! Its nice to see something like this as opposed to the constant depressing stuff that goes on in the country. So thanks thejournal.ie!

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    Mute ManOnTheStreet
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    Nov 21st 2012, 2:47 PM

    If we stay strong and stand together, we can rebuild!
    Earthquake 2012 (as the history books will come to call it) will not beat us!

    68
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    Mute Cyril Butler
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    Nov 21st 2012, 2:44 PM

    God is getting a tad angry with all this talk of abortion and gay rights in Ireland. He must be testing the waters.

    65
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    Mute Declan Murtagh Sr.
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    Nov 21st 2012, 4:17 PM

    the red cross are sending parcels to Donegal with nails so people can hang pictures back on the walls and thumb tacs for the people who lost their Christmas decorations there’s also cloths for some people whose class of water fell of the locker. terrible disaster were all thinking of you

    56
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    Mute Brian Canavan
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    Nov 21st 2012, 1:52 PM

    150kms isn’t exactly that far at all.

    47
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    Mute Phil Costello
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    Nov 21st 2012, 2:12 PM

    2012

    44
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    Mute Paddy Mac
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    Nov 21st 2012, 2:51 PM

    They survived it in Belmullet so take inspiration from those people keep the heads up Donegal!!

    40
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    Mute Stephen McMeel
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    Nov 21st 2012, 3:22 PM

    Exactly one month before the end of the world!!!!!!! 21/12/12

    38
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    Mute Vocal Outrage
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    Nov 21st 2012, 3:40 PM

    Not exactly a month, our current calendar is actually out by 11 days due to an initial error in calculating the Gregorian calendar

    26
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    Mute John the Baptist
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    Nov 21st 2012, 4:03 PM

    @ Stephen,

    Now you have me worried. forgot all about that gregorian stuff Dooooh. Gotta revisit my bucket list

    14
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    Mute Kerry Blake
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    Nov 21st 2012, 1:58 PM

    Are these tremors becoming more frequent?

    36
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    Mute Brian Ó Dálaigh
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    Nov 21st 2012, 2:07 PM

    No. There are two reasons as to why it may seem so. The first is the improvement in our ability to detect earthquakes. The second is the proliferation of online media which allows instant reporting of such events before they become obscured by more important events.

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    Mute jimboandbear
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    Nov 21st 2012, 2:50 PM

    More like a scientifically illiterate media who can’t differentiate between an event and a non-event.

    What people don’t seem to realise is that the Richter scale is a logarithmic scale. A magnitude 8 is not twice as powerful as a magnitude 4, It’s 1 million times more powerful. Magnitude 2.7 is nothing.

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    Mute ADEBAYO FLYNN
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    Nov 21st 2012, 2:58 PM

    @ Brian, Your facts and well thought out answers are impressing no one. It’s scandal and mystery we want here. #BABYJESUSCRY

    43
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    Mute Max Brow
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    Nov 21st 2012, 2:33 PM

    OOPS! And I thought it was the neighbour upstairs letting a biggie.

    35
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    Mute Deco
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    Nov 21st 2012, 3:28 PM

    must be all the Donegal people weakening the earth’s crust at burying all their money. we get nothing up here !!! ;-)

    27
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    Mute Josh Barton
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    Nov 21st 2012, 4:07 PM

    Ahhh Deco. Good to see you’re back and it’s not even friday

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    Mute Brighid Sheridan
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    Nov 21st 2012, 8:34 PM

    Lmao- I’m donegalish

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    Mute Max Brow
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    Nov 21st 2012, 3:52 PM

    Will those red thumbs get a sense of humour.

    19
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    Mute jimboandbear
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    Nov 21st 2012, 2:43 PM

    Not sure why this is news. Minor earthquakes happen on average once every three days. They’re usually too small to be noticed and/or don’t occur in populated areas.. so noone notices.

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    Mute Conor Farrell
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    Nov 21st 2012, 3:42 PM

    WE WILL REBUILD!!

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    Mute Danny McLaughlin
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    Nov 21st 2012, 5:35 PM
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    Mute Sandra Jock
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    Nov 21st 2012, 3:26 PM

    Ah for his sake, it’s the Kerry ones trying to steal the Sam maguire!!!

    12
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    Mute B O'Connor
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    Nov 21st 2012, 2:39 PM

    Was there a tsunami alert issued?

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    Mute jimboandbear
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    Nov 21st 2012, 2:45 PM

    For a magnitude 2.7? They don’t tend to issue warnings for 1cm high tsunamis.

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    Mute Brian Ó Dálaigh
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    Nov 21st 2012, 2:58 PM

    There would be a larger tsunami in my toilet bowl the morning after the night before…

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    Mute David Jordan
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    Nov 21st 2012, 4:57 PM

    There are 60 ton boulders on the tops of 100 meter high cliffs along some parts of the west of Ireland. Caused by a massive tsunami, triggered by an off shore earthquake and submarine landslide about 6000-8000 years ago. We could be hit again.

    In 1929, the Mag 7.9 Grand Bank’s earthquake and tsunami killed, I think, about 30 Canadians in a region eastern Canada (New Foundland) that never had earthquakes before. Again, that earthquake triggered a massive underwater landslide.

    So, yes, Ireland can be hit by tsunamis.

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    Mute B O'Connor
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    Nov 21st 2012, 11:32 PM

    Thanks for that, Jim! Detecting facetiousness wouldn’t be one of your strong points I take it!

    7
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    Mute Caroline Locke
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    Nov 21st 2012, 4:47 PM

    Thank Heavens it is small.Nothing to worry about.

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    Mute Gavin Mc Guire
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    Nov 21st 2012, 6:32 PM
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    Mute David Ronan
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    Nov 21st 2012, 3:23 PM

    Extremely minor earthquake happens miles from anywhere and doesn’t effect anyone. Yes, I can see how this made the news.

    6
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    Mute Gavin McDonnell
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    Nov 21st 2012, 5:33 PM

    Complete whingey nobody takes time from his full and busy schedule to comment on minor seismic event, news is flooding in today

    26
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    Mute Randy O'Toole
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    Nov 22nd 2012, 2:24 AM

    What was the Irish Geological Survey doing?

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    Mute Damian O'keeffe
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    Nov 22nd 2012, 6:25 AM

    He was on a day off…

    10
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