Irish consumers encouraged to buy the smooth sheep’s milk cheese

ONE of Ireland’s best known cheese makers has teamed up with Tesco Ireland to promote and boost our consumption of Crozier Blue, the only blue cheese in this country made from sheep’s milk.

Following on the recent sheep’s milk tastings at the Sheridan’s Food Festival, Crozier Blue is now toasting a very successful year on the shelves at Tesco with a three week long promotion of the distinctive cheese brand, starting on June 27.

The promotion will see Crozier host tastings in Tesco Ireland outlets throughout the country, offering significant discounts for consumers, in what is a major marketing opportunity for Crozier Blue, cheesemaker Sarah Furno explained. Her parents, Jane and Louis Grubb, first began making the cheese in their Tipperary dairy 20 years ago next year.

It’s the perfect time of year for the Crozier Blue promotion, Sarah says. “This is a good time of the year to sample sheep’s milk cheese for the first time. It has a lovely smooth, mild flavour right now. It is very approachable and is lots different to goat’s milk cheese, which tends to be stronger.

“Tesco Ireland has been very supportive of Crozier Blue since we first started working with them last June and we look forward to a great three weeks ahead. Lots of consumers enjoy our better-known Cashel Blue cheese. We’re hoping consumers will be a little more adventurous over the coming weeks and will also sample Crozier Blue,” she added.

Tesco Ireland’s cheese buyer, Barra McFeely said the retail price of Crozier Blue 125 g will be reduced by 33 % from 27th June to 17th of July. The cheese is currently on sale in over 50 Tesco stores.

“Crozier Blue is one of the best cheeses to be found in Ireland. The cheese is performing well in our shops and it is an important part of our range. We are proud to stock such a prestigious Irish cheese,” he added.

As well as being smoother than other milk, sheep milk contains much higher levels of vitamins and minerals than any other type of milk. It helps in the development of strong bones and helps prevent osteoporosis. Sheep’s milk is better tolerated by individuals allergic to bovine dairy products.

The Asthma Research Council, UK, and the Eczema Society recommend a change to sheep (and goat) products to aid the treatment of these and other related problems. Sheep’s milk is especially good as it is high in both calcium and zinc.

J&L Grubb established its better-known Cashel Blue cheese in 1984. Around the same time Jane and Louis Grubb’s nephew Henry Clifton Brown of Ballinamona Farm which overlooks the Rock of Cashel, set about establishing a flock of milking sheep. Nine years later, Crozier Blue was developed. The flock now numbers over 400 and is an attractive mix of black and white inquisitive sheep. To this day Crozier Blue is the only blue cheese made from sheep’s milk in Ireland

Crozier and Cashel Blue are both produced at Ireland’s largest farmhouse cheese-making dairy in the heart of county Tipperary. The €6 million facility is located a stone’s throw from the farmhouse where Cashel Blue was originally created in 1982 by Louis and Jane Grubb

The farmhouse cheese dairy and farm employs 25 local people and produces 250 tonnes of cheese per annum, making it the largest farmhouse cheese producer in Ireland and one of the biggest in the UK. The new dairy will allow the Grubb family to double production, it is anticipated that production will grow to 320 tonnes by the end of 2012.

Over 50 per cent of the cheese is exported, much of this to the UK and USA. Recently considerable interest has also been expressed in Cashel Blue on the established speciality cheese market of continental Europe namely in France, Italy and Germany.

· Visitors to be lured to Roscommon to Revive, Refresh and Rewind!

Roscommon sets sail to become a must visit Irish destination when it launches an exciting new tourism campaign at the Volvo Ocean Race Grand Finale Festival in Galway next month.

The initiative aims to promote County Roscommon as the perfect place for tourists and holiday-makers to Revive, Refresh and Rewind. Focusing on the “Roscommon DNA”, the promotion will capture the spirit of the Roscommon community with strong emphasis on its culture, heritage and attractions.

Devised by Roscommon Community Tourism Network and supported by Roscommon LEADER Partnership, Roscommon County Council, and Fáilte Ireland the campaign will be rolled out at the biggest party to be staged in Ireland in 2012 – the Volvo Ocean Race Grand Finale Festival in Galway, which is expected to attract more than 700,000 people from all over the world.

Visitors to the nine-day festival will be able to learn all about Roscommon on the Look West marquee on the Dock Road where there will be a celebration of all things “Rossie”. There will be giveaways and local media, Twitter and Facebook competitions to get people to come on board the new marketing campaign. A special reception of a Taste of Roscommon will be held on the evening of July 6th.

Stunning and lively branding, including a new logo, brochures and a website www.roscommon.ie are at the centre of the campaign. There will also be national radio advertising, new county boundary signage and the appointment of well known natives later this summer as “Tourism Ambassadors” to spread the word about the county.

One of Roscommon’s best known natives, proud Boyle man actor Chris O Dowd, has already thrown his weight behind the initiative. “Everything about Roscommon is home to me…it is untouched by the cynicism of modernity and has remained true to its identity through bubbles and dip. I love walking down to the Doon Shore in Boyle on summers mornings. And Stephens Day when hot toddies are served up during the treasure hunt at Lough Key remains my favourite time of the year.”

The very best of Roscommon’s tourism offerings, spread across angling, cruising, cycling, golf, horse racing, walking, built and natural amenities, vibrant festivals, award-winning culture and heritage projects and choice accommodation will all be promoted under the tag line of ‘Roscommon – revive, refresh rewind’.

The new campaign seeks to play to Roscommon’s strengths, according to Roscommon County Manager Frank Dawson.

“This is a hugely exciting initiative for Roscommon. The County has so much to offer the tourist and while we have been sometimes overshadowed by our neighbours in the past we are now going to shout loud about what we have.”

He said it is hoped to tap into the huge tourism potential in the county, thereby boosting the local economy. Latest figures from Fáilte Ireland show that of the 1,148,000 visitors to the west region in 2010, just 56,000 visited Roscommon. Revenue generated through such visits was €20m.

Colm Keane, Chairperson of Roscommon Community Tourism Network, said it is now time to focus the national and international spotlight on how special the Roscommon tourism offering is.

“This campaign will capture the spirit of our community and connections our visitors can enjoy with the locals, culture, heritage and attractions in Roscommon. Research shows that tourists are looking for less ‘official’ information, they want an insider’s view of an area, they want to be part of experience and not just look in. Our campaign will focus on the real Roscommon DNA!’”

Dr Constantin Gurdgiev addresses MK Brazil’s ‘Irelands Crises: The Way Forward’ breakfast briefing in Waterford

Ireland’s tax system was designed for an environment that no longer exists and it needs to be dramatically overhauled, a leading economist has suggested.

“Our economy will continue to struggle until we transfer the tax burden away from income,” according to Dr. Constantin Gurdgiev, Head of Research for St. Columbanus AG, and Adjunct Lecturer in Finance with Trinity College, Dublin.

“The tax burden on income has rocketed from close to 29% in 2007 to 40.55% in 2011″.

Dr. Gurdgiev also believes that increasing income taxes inevitably leads to leakage from the Irish tax system as it forces businesses either offshore or into the black and grey economy.

He made his comments, in his first ever address in Waterford, to an ‘Irelands Crises: The Way Forward’ breakfast briefing hosted by leading accountancy firm, MK Brazil.

“It isn’t feasible to continue to increase the tax burden on a diminishing number of people. In addition, reduced earnings have had a domino effect, stifling productivity and motivation, reducing consumption, reducing long-term savings, diminishing the potential investment pool and creating a lower ability to deleverage,” Dr Gurdgiev said.

Dr. Gurdgiev examined and contrasted the average income of different categories of people over recent years to illustrate the impact increasing taxes has on households and thus on the wider economy. He feels that a move away from earnings-based taxes towards a land-based tax needs to be considered, but cautioned against taxing buildings as it could discourage value-adding and productive activities.

“Taxing productively also leads to the loss of talent and intellectual capital as people move abroad, and these things are not easily recovered. We need to encourage people to stay here and, while Ireland rates well in terms of facilitating start-up business, improvements can still be made in practical areas like access to credit and ESB connections.”

He also spoke about the urgent need to address the issue of debt forgiveness. “It is nonsense to argue that negative equity only affects people when they sell their property. We need to start getting serious about the debt attaching to Irish businesses and Irish households and be honest about the impact it has on our economy.”

Dr. Gurdgiev dismissed the moral hazard argument and explained: “People make mistakes, that is what people do, and unfortunately the current system allows one bad investment mistake to undo years of hard work. It is futile and counter-productive to punish people for being human.”

MK Brazil is one of the most progressive business advisory and accounting firms in the South East providing a range of financial and taxation services to a wide-range of clients. The firm is also very active in a representative capacity and Dr. Gurdgiev praised MK Brazil for the work the firm had done, especially in relation to the income levy and USC.

Brendan Twohig, Tax Direct with MK Brazil, also spoke about the Irish tax system and in particular the changes to Revenue’s Monitoring activities over the years.“There were over 557,000 Revenue interventions last year, compared to a circa 113,000 in 2005. Obviously increases in Revenue inspections at a time when the number of tax-payers is falling inevitably means that businesses can expect a greater level of scrutiny going forward. We’ll also see a continued move away from traditional monitoring activities such as Revenue Audits.

“For example, the Revenue carried out 225 streetscape operations last year which involves unannounced ‘drop-in’ visits and spot checks on businesses. One interesting aspect of these visits was that the Revenue discovered 435 cases of employees being paid ‘under the counter’.”

Brendan cautioned against such practices as “the risks and sanctions can be quite severe and often such practices stem from a mis-understanding of the tax and social welfare systems.”

Brendan explained that many of the problems that typically arise in Revenue Inspections are avoidable. “Many problems stem from cash-flow problem or simple disorganisation rather than dishonesty. Our advice to businesses is to get advice and to get it early – the tax system is very much geared towards helping people who confront their problems.”