Following an application to the Dept. of Agriculture, Food and the Marine by Carlow County Council, a project will be undertaken to develop awareness of Locally Produced Food and key Tourism Food Establishments in partnership with Carlow Tourism.

The proposed project is aimed at building connections and developing a brand for County Carlow Indigenous food producers which links their message to the already developed brand of County Carlow’s Tourism Marketing & Product Offering and aims to engage 40 Food Companies & 15 Tourism Venues during its initial stages. Speaking about the project, Kieran Comerford – Head of Enterprise with Carlow County Council said “At the heart of the project is the vision that it will provide a two fold benefits to companies and individuals who engage in the project. The excepted benefit for the Food Manufacturer or Farmer is increased sales and awareness in particular in Local Markets and the benefit for the Tourism venue is the provision of a Ready Made Toolkit to allow them to embrace buying locally and also how to communicate same to their customers”

Councillor John Murphy who is Chairman of Carlow Tourism said. “I am delighted and welcome this announcement of funding for Tourism in County Carlow. The marketing of Food Tourism and our producers is a welcome addition to the key message that County Carlow has to portray as a destination of choice with a variety of Tourism activities from Food, Culture, History and Adventure”.

Director of Services at Carlow County Council, Bernie O’Brien said “This innovative project is a perfect example of how Carlow County Council can work with key partners in order to promote a specific sector in a strategic way” O’Brien continued to say that “the Food Sector is vitally important to the Carlow Economy and Carlow over the past number of years has been proud to be the home of many indigenous enterprises such as Walsh Whiskey, Seery’s , O’Hara’s , Sunshine Juice and a nationally recognized Farmers Market”.