Fairtrade Ireland is the Irish member of

FLO International Fairtrade International, or Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International E.V. is a nonprofit product-oriented multistakeholder group aimed at promoting the lives of farmers and workers through fair trade. Fairtrade's work is guided by a gl ...

, which unites 23

Fairtrade A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement of fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa ...

producer and labelling initiatives across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. The organisation, which is registered as a charity, awards a consumer label, the

Fairtrade Certification Mark The International Fairtrade Certification Mark'' is an independent Fair trade certification mark used in over 69 countries. It appears on products as an independent guarantee that a product has been produced according to fair trade political sta ...

, to products which meet internationally recognised standards of

. It is supported by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

, ActionAid Ireland,

Christian Aid Christian Aid is a relief and development charity of 41 Christian (Protestant and Orthodox) churches in Great Britain and Ireland, and works to support sustainable development, eradicate poverty, support civil society and provide disaster rel ...

, Comhlámh, Concern,

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief ...

Trócaire Trócaire (, meaning "compassion") is an International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO) which is based in Ireland. It was founded, in 1973, as the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Trócaire is involved ...

and the

Irish Congress of Trade Unions The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (often abbreviated to just Congress or ICTU), formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trades Union Congress (founded in 1894) and the Congress of Irish Unions (founded in 1945), is a national trade union cent ...

and is active throughout Ireland through a network of volunteers. The first Irish product bearing the

Fairtrade Mark The International Fairtrade Certification Mark'' is an independent Fair trade certification mark used in over 69 countries. It appears on products as an independent guarantee that a product has been produced according to fair trade political st ...

, ''Bewley's Direct'' coffee, was launched in November 1996. Today, dozens of Irish products bear the Fairtrade Mark, and Fairtrade products are sold by most major Irish supermarkets, such as

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

Dunnes Stores Dunnes Stores is an Irish multinational retail chain that primarily sells food, clothes and household wares. It was founded by Ben Dunne (businessman, born 1908), Ben Dunne in 1944. In addition to its main customer base in Ireland, the chain al ...

, Londis,

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

Superquinn Superquinn was an Irish supermarket chain, founded in 1960 and entirely privately owned by the Quinn family. Select Retail Holdings, a property buying consortium, purchased the company from the Quinn family in 2005. A receiver was appointed to ...

, Supervalu,

Centra Centra is a convenience shop chain that operates throughout Ireland. The chain operates as a symbol group owned by Musgrave Group, the food wholesaler, meaning the individual shops are all owned by individual franchisees. The chain has three ...

, and Spar. Fairtrade Ireland's most active campaign is the

Fairtrade Town The Fair Trade Towns campaign is the result of a grass-roots citizens movement that started in the UK in 2001 (see below). It allows citizens to get together in order to self-proclaim their town (or other local geographical area) as a region that ...

programme. As of 2017, there were 49 registered

s in Ireland. Fairtrade Ireland also runs the Fairtrade Schools, Fairtrade College, Fairtrade Ambassador, and Fairtrade@Work programs throughout Ireland Sales of Fairtrade products in Ireland jumped by 101 per cent in 2007 to more than €23.3 million, up from €11.6 million in 2006. A survey conducted in 2011 found that 88% of Irish adults trust the

.Globescan (2011)

URL accessed on October 10, 2016.

References

External links

Fairtrade Ireland
{{Fair trade Fair trade organizations Organizations established in 1992 1992 establishments in Ireland