Lords of the dulse Seaweed firm helped Flatley recover from mystery illness
The Talty family, who have harvested carrageen moss off the west coast of Clare for four generations, were called upon to provide their organic product – for his bath.
And bosses at Donald Trump’s five-star Doonbeg resort still regularly send out for freshly-harvested seaweed whenever the 58-year-old is in residence.
Riverdance legend Flatley credits Ennisbased energy healer Michael O’doherty with curing him of the mystery virus that forced him to quit dancing a decade ago.
Evan Talty told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “Michael O’doherty is big into seaweed and he got him into sprinkling it into salads.
“Then as time went on and he started feeling better he got into the seaweed baths to soothe his back and his joints.
“So now every time he comes to Doonbeg, although they have Voya in the spa, he insists on our seaweed baths to be sent to his room, which is fine with us.”
Wild Irish Seaweed was founded in 2009 by Evan’s parents Gerard and Eileen but the Talty family have been harvesting dulse and carrageen for four generations.
Evan explained: “Back in the 1920s my great-grandfather was involved in the seaweed industry, at that time it was about extracting iodine in case of nuclear threat.
“Then my grandfather started exporting carrageen to the US where they used it as
Michael used seaweed baths to help pain a thickening agent in toothpaste.” The business skipped a generation but took off again following the 2011 Fukishima nuclear disaster in Japan which led to a downturn in seaweed production. The Queen’s 2011 visit also boosted the company’s profile when she was served a dessert of carrageen cream pudding at Dublin Castle – and she has been a fan ever since. Evan said: “The recipe was by Myrtle Allen, it’s based on a typical Irish recipe where you boil up the seaweed with milk, honey and lemon and it sets like a jelly. After the visit the Queen’s estate at Clarence House got onto us and we’ve been supplying it regularly, every couple of months.
“We weren’t sure if she was actually using it or not until Prince Charles and Camilla came for a visit and he told us she loves it.”
The business has moved out of the family kitchen into a factory nearby and now employs 22 people, but they still harvest the seaweed the traditional way – by hand.
Evan said: “We go down on our hands and knees with knives and cut the seaweed whereas if we were farming it on a large scale it would be chemically grown.”
Tonight’s episode of Dragons’ Den sees Evan and his dad Gerard reveal their plans to go global by moving into the crisp market.
Their pitch to Gavin Duffy, Barry O’sullivan, Alison Cowzer, Eleanor Mcevoy and Chanelle Mccoy asks for a €50,000 investment for a five per cent share of the company.
Dragons’ Den is on RTE One tonight at 9.30pm
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