McConalogue boost as Irish whiskey lobby seeks US protection
Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue sent a letter of support to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) in advance of its meeting last month with the Irish Whiskey Association (IWA), the sector’s largest lobby group which is seeking enhanced protections for Irish whiskey in America.
While “Irish whiskey” is a geographical indication (GI) under European Union legislation — ensuring anything labelled as such has to be produced on the island of Ireland — this status is not currently recognised in the US, where the beverage is only considered a “distinctive product of Ireland”.
The IWA has issued multiple cease-and-desist letters and trademark oppositions to deter companies from selling imitation Irish-style whiskey in America, according to Eoin Ó Catháin, the new director of the IWA.
The lobby group lodged a petition last year with the TTB in search of similar protections afforded to Scotch whisky in the 1970s and an IWA delegation met with the bureau, as well as members of Congress, during a trip to Washington in the run-up to St Patrick’s Day.
Congressman Richard Neal of Massachusetts, a ranking member of the influential Ways and Means Committee and co-chair of the Friends of Ireland caucus in the House of Representatives, also sent a letter of support for the petition to the TTB.
Mr Ó Catháin said the petition is not related to the group’s previous application to obtain a US certification mark.
A row broke out over that application in 2021 with West Cork Distillers, which argued that the Government should own the certification mark and that it should reside with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
The department then questioned the lobby group over its application.
A spokesperson for the department told the Sunday Independent it is now “supportive of any enhanced protections for geographical indications for Irish products and carries out regular monitoring on the use of the GI names in the marketplace at home and abroad”.
“The department is aware of engagement by the IWA with the TTB to seek enhanced protection for certain Irish drinks products in the US. It is supportive of this request and the minister issued a letter of support on 8 March in advance of the meeting with TTB. The department did not attend this meeting.”