Irish Rural Association (Irish Rural Association)

Lobbying Organisation Irish Rural Association

Date published 18 Sep, 2026

Relevant Matter Legislation

Public Policy Area Food

Period 1 May. 2026 to 31 Aug. 2026

Specific Details Using the headliner of FOOF SAFETY following the 2025 food recalls where we observed very inconsistent, lack of information and clarity when it comes to food labelling and packaging like the clear identification when a label says EU or NON EU also the misleading information when it says "Produced in Ireland" but yet the product/s may be imported from EU/NON EU - but gives the impression to the consumer that it is an Irish Product.

Intended results A change to the legislation that will clearly identify the Country of Origin for ALL FOOD PRODUCTS using the example presently we see EU Meat/Vegetables/Chicken or it just says NON EU. What we are proposing to happen is A clearer label larger that 10pt text, in a colour that is easy to see on the front of packaging - and reads (EU - Spain) NON EU - England/ Brazil etc - this will be on-going for a few sessions going into 2027

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Jackie Flannery, Spokesperson Irish Rural Association

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? Yes

What is the directive you gave to the grassroots campaigners? They were asked when visiting different food retail outlets to observe certain food packaging and labelling and report their findings and if they could have a picture of the item of concern. It would be impossible for me to get to retail outlets throughout Ireland, plus it involves the grassroots who are also consumers and we are meeting our mission statement by informing people of issues of concern.

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Meeting (2-5)

These would range from requested meetings with the DPO's where we would present a document of our findings and what we had observed and noted and dated so they had a starting point, or there were also times that we would meet at another event and there would be updates or further info sought

Email (2-5)

Again similar to above - requesting a meeting and/or sending a brief outline of our intended discussion

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.

Ciaran Mullooly MEP (European Parliament)

Paul Lawless TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael Fitzmaurice TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Martin Kenny TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Michael Collins TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)