Irish Distillers Association

Lobbying Organisation Irish Distillers Association

Date published 19 Jan, 2022

Relevant Matter Legislation

Public Policy Area Food

Period 1 Sep, 2021 to 31 Dec, 2021

Specific Details Enforcement of EU spirits regulations, in particular indicated place of provenance provisions (e.g. Art 21 of 787/19)

Intended results Demonstrate lack of enforcement of spirits provenance regulations

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Iseult Conlan

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Email (2-5)

The IDA informed MEP of a request made to Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski to use his influence to require the Irish Department of Agriculture to put robust measures in place to ensure that Irish whisky labelling is fully compliant with EU law as it relates to the PGI system.

Email (2-5)

The IDA contacted Minister McConalogue outlining recent stark examples of false indication of provenance in Irish whisky that had been approved by his department. Confirmation was requested as to the enforcement of EU law on Irish whisky labels bearing a geographic indication.

Social Media (2-5)

Lack of enforcement of EU Reg 787/2019 and general false provenance in Ireland where label placenames unrelated to the distilling location for Irish Whisky.

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Charlie McConalogue Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)

Seán Kelly MEP (European Parliament)