Mars chief Dawson gives Coveney food for thought
BREXIT and the food industry has been one of the hot topics of the past week and, as reported on these pages, the dairy industry will feel the impact of a UK exit from the EU swiftly. Businesses have been relatively quiet about this until recently, but preparations have been busily under way behind closed doors.
Fiona Dawson, global president of food, drinks, and multi-sales at Mars, was in Ireland last autumn and documents released under Freedom of Information show she raised concerns about the group’s supply chain with Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney.
Details about the firm’s contingency plans were redacted, although documents show that Mars is supportive of the backstop expressing the view that “it is vital there is no hard border”.
Mars also presented Coveney with an introductory guide to the company which gave some detail on why Dawson is keeping a close watch on Brexit developments. In a section about supply chain, it stresses the importance of Irish dairy to the company.
“We buy $20m in Irish dairy products per annum. We use over 100 million litres of Irish milk in our products,” it stated. That’s a lot of Mars bars.
However, Coveney’s department did not release infographics on “the supply chain of a Mars bar” and “the supply chain of a Whiskas pouch” due to commercial sensitivity.
As well as Dawson, other meetings that day were also “largely” focused on Brexit, including with AIB’s Bernard Byrne, bosses from Danone and John Allan, president of the Confederation of British Industry.
WHEN ministers beat a path towards a particular technology you know its time has truly come and electric vehicles are now certainly de rigueur for the public sector.
Last week, Communications Minister Richard Bruton — a rare minister to opt for a hybrid ministerial car — lent his support to An Post’s launch of zeroemissions deliveries in Dublin city centre.
Not to be outdone, Transport Minister Shane Ross announced to the Dail that Dublin Bus will shortly test a number of double-deck diesel-electric hybrid buses. All aboard indeed.