National Enterprise Awards Raise a Glass to West Cork Company
15th Annual National Enterprise Awards Celebrate Ireland’s Micro-Enterprises
Drombeg Premium Irish Spirit (Glanmara Ltd.) secured a major award for innovation at the National Enterprise Awards in Dublin last night (Nov 24th).
Organised by the County and City Enterprise Boards to recognise the achievements of Ireland’s micro enterprises, the awards were announced by Mr. John Perry, T.D. Minister of State for Small Business at the event in Dublin Castle.
Drombeg Premium Irish Spirit is manufactured in Union Hall, West Cork, using Irish Spring water and locally-sourced ingredients. Supported by the West Cork Enterprise Board, the company has launched a new and exciting Irish product onto the Spirits market. Drombeg recently received a commendation from a world renowned whiskey expert and is currently developing distribution agreements for export to the US, Canadian, UK and Chinese markets.
Michael Hanley, CEO of West Cork Enterprise Board, was the first to congratulate the company saying, “Innovation is the key to business success and Drombeg are to be lauded for developing a new Spirit that is uniquely Irish in quality and taste, in no small part due to the proprietary maturation process used to develop the product. Drombeg’s ability to identify and develop a niche in a market as competitive as the drinks industry is a great example of Irish innovation and business acumen.”
Minister John Perry presented the overall award of the National Enterprise Awards to David Murphy of Agrispread (Running Gear Ltd.), a manufacturer of agricultural spreaders based in Mayo. Two other awards were announced on the night; Patrick Cotter of Fleet Connect from Fingal, Co. Dublin received the ‘Best New Business’ Award while David O’Donnell of Softouch Technologies from Wexford was presented with the ‘Best Exporting Business’ Award.
The remaining finalists were Soltec (Ireland) Ltd. from Westmeath (Michael Corcoran), Aine’s Chocolates from Cavan (Ann Rudden), Sendmode.com of Donegall (John McNamara) and Action Point Innovation from Limerick County (David Jeffreys).
There are thirty-five County and City Enterprise Boards around the Country, which in 2010 alone, provided a variety of enterprise supports for nearly 25,000 small business owners.