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Green Ireland Conference, Kilkenny Castle, 16-18 June 2006
Branding for farming, food and eco-tourism
Delegates from America, Asia and Europe attending the Green Ireland conference gave a strong warning that Ireland's world famous clean green image – which provides a competitive advantage for our food, farm, and tourism industries – will soon be lost if the Irish government and the Irish Farmers Association fail to resist pressure from the WTO and the European Commission to force the release of patented genetically modified (GM) animal feed, seeds, crops, trees, fish and livestock here.
The event provided a historic opportunity for Irish policy makers and stakeholders to meet with key international experts to explore our democratic participation, legal rights and responsibilities for the future of food and farming – and Ireland's brand recognition in a globalising world.
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Media coverage
Photo gallery
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Proceedings
The proceedings section includes speech transcripts and PDF downloads, together with speakers' PowerPoint presentations. Link to proceedings.
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Sponsors
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Organisers
The event was produced by Global Vision Consulting Ltd and co-hosted by the GM-free Ireland Network and An Taisce / the National Trust for Ireland.
Themes
Forging a GM policy for Ireland: global and local perspectives on patented GMO crops • Integrity and diversity of ecosystems, agricultural traditions and foods • Green branding, natural heritage and eco-tourism • Who decides? democratic rights, responsibilities and public participation • The future of Irish food and farming.
Speakers (with links to completed transcripts):
Dr. Vandana Shiva, Physicist; Winner of the Right Livelihood Award; Director, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology; author, Biopiracy - the plunder of nature and knowledge (India)
• Percy Schmeiser, farmer who was contaminated by GMO crops; Former member of the Legislative Assembly (Parliament), Province of Saskatchewan, Canada;
Member, International Forum for the Future of Food and Agriculture (Canada) •
Deborah Koons Garcia, Produder / Director of the film, The Future of Food (USA) •
Benedikt Haerlin, Former German MEP; Convener of the annual European Conference on GMO-free Zones; Director, Save our Seeds (SOS); Director, Foundation on Future Farming (Germany) •
Muiris Kennedy, Director of Corporate Marketing Services and Small Business, Bord Bía (Irish Food Board) •
Vincent Cleary, Managing Director, Glenisk Organic Ireland •
Brody Sweeney, CEO, O'Briens Sandwich Bars •
Eddie Punch, General Secretary, Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers Association (ICSA) •
Kate Carmody, Boardmember, Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association (IOFGA) •
Clare Oxborrow, Spokesperson, European GMO Campaign, Friends of the Earth Europe (England) •
Jack O'Sullivan, Director, Environmental Management Services •
John Brennan, Manager, Leitrim Organic Farmers Cooperative Society; Chairman, Western Organic Network • two speeches by
Dr. Stanley Ewen, Member, Independent Science Panel; UK National Health Service Consultant Histophathologist, Grampian University Hospitals Trust (Scotland) •
Dr. Philip Michael, Boardmember, Irish Doctors Environmental Association •
Frank Corcoran, Vice-President, European Environmental Bureau •
Michael Ewing, Centre for Sustainability, Sligo Institute of Technology •
Ian Lumley, Heritage Officer, An Taisce / the National Trust for Ireland •
Michael O'Callaghan, Co-ordinator, GM-free Ireland Network; Director, Global Vision Consulting Ltd. (conference chair). See proceedings.
Media coverage
The Irish Times, Irish Independent, Irish Examiner, the Irish language paper Lá, and numerous national and local radio stations covered the conference, including long radio interviews with some of the keynote speakers. TV news coverage scheduled by RTE and TV3 was cancelled because of the co-inciding state funeral of the former Taoiseach, Charles Haughey. See press coverage.
Editors and journalists: we can provide video and audio recordings together with transcriptions of all speeches. Please contact us for details.
Bord Bía sponsorship
Bord Bía (the Irish Food Board) cancelled its agreement to co-sponsor this conference under pressure from a biotech industry lobbyist in Canada! More.
Credits
Thanks to all our speakers, especially to Frank Corcoran of An Taisce and John Brennan of the Leitrim Organic Farmers Cooperative for strategic support. Gratitude to Niall McLoughlin of Ross Communications for media relations, to Eoin Campbell of Just Multimedia for videotaping and photography, and to Helen Witts of An Taisce for helping registration. And special thanks to the Office of Public Works for staging the conference at The Parade Tower, Kilkenny Castle.
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Follow up
Fáilte Ireland (Ireland's National Tourism Development Authority - www.failteireland.ie) has commissioned the Tourism Research Centre (www.dit.ie/dit/trc) at the Dublin Institute of Technology (www.dit.ie) to conduct research to ascertain whether the introduction of GM crop farming would change visitor perceptions of Ireland as a "clean, green" destination. The research includes face-to-face interviews with overseas visitors from July to November, 2006. The preliminary findings from the visitor attitude survey will be presented at an Expert Review panel drawing together key individuals with expertise in the areas of GMO, tourism, food and destination management who will meet to further inform this process on 19 October 2006. This Panel will be facilitated by Dr Sheila Flanagan, Head of the School of Hospitality Management and Tourism, DIT. The findings of this research will form the basis for a position paper on the issue.
Celebrity chef Darina Allen invited Percy Schmeiser and Michael O'Callaghan to give a presentation on keeping Ireland GM-free at the The Ballymaloe Cookery School on 21 June 2006.
Growing Awareness (http://growingawareness.org), a West Cork food and farming group working to restore respect farmers and growers, invited Percy Schmeiser and Michael O'Callaghan to give a presentation on keeping Ireland GM-free in the GMO-free town of Clonakilty on 21 June 2006. This led to a good article by Donal Hickey in the Irish Examiner entitled Canadian farmer warns of GM plague.
Euro-Toques Ireland (http://www.eurotoquesirl) hosted the annual National Future of Food Forum (http://www.eurotoquesirl.org/events1.php#foodforum2006) on the theme Ireland - the food island? at the BrookLodge Hotel and Spa (www.brooklodge.com), a GMO-free zone in Macreddin, Co. Wicklow on 3 September 2006. The event – supported by Fáilte Ireland – included a panel discussion on the future of Irish food tourism with Peter Ward (Chairman of the TASTE Council), Colman Andrews (Co-founder and Editor of the US Saveur magazine), John McKenna (Auhor of the Bridgestone Guides), James McGeough (craft butcher and speciality food producer), Trevor White (Editor of The Dubliner magazine), and John Mulcahy (Fáilte Ireland), at which Michael O'Callaghan warned about the impact of GM contamination on the Irish food, farm and tourist industries.
Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, became the 9th town on the island to declare itself a GMO-free zone on 14 September 2006, following presentations by GM-free Ireland at the Inishowen Summer Gathering and on Tory Island in July.
Marc Michel Organic Life hosted a community discussion on the benefits of declaring Co. Wicklow a GMO-free zone on 6 September 2006. This will be followed by a second discussion on 4 October.
Wicklow Co. Council Strategic Policy Committee on Water Environmental Services invited Michael O'Callaghan to give a briefing on 25 September 2006 re. declaring Co. Wicklow a GMO-free zone.
GM-free Ireland is now seeking funding or sponsorship to publish and disseminate the proceedings of the Green Ireland conference as a DVD and report to key players in Ireland's food, farm and tourism sectors. Contributions may be made through a registered charity. Please contact us for enquiries.
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Feedback
"Excellent! Brilliant! Well done! The world-class speakers with deep knowledge of their subjects, the well-knitted themes from various aspects of food and the environment, and related laws gave greater depth, increased opportunities for lateral thinking and cooperation, and greater scope for meeting people with various related concerns and activities. It was splendid!"
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– Mrs. Jo Sikabonyi, Kent, England.
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