Clonakilty celebrates 20-year milestone as Ireland's first Fairtrade town

Ideas outlined in a parish newsletter sowed the seed in a small but dedicated group of volunteers in Clonakilty to push the Fairtrade message. Other local towns have since shown their commitment to make West Cork Ireland’s Fairtrade capital

CLONAKILTY is marking the 20th anniversary of becoming the country’s first Fairtrade town this weekend.

It was awarded the accolade in 2003 and since then the pioneering committee who secured the title, have helped countless other communities around the country to do the same.

Founding member and pro Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin recalled how the initial seeds were sown when Timoleague native Fr Gerard Galvin was appointed to Clonakilty parish.

‘He opened up the church and the people to new ideas. Among them was Jennifer Sleeman who had a lifelong interest and passion in global justice issues and the environment. Fr Galvin introduced the idea of a weekly church newsletter and invited people to write articles about topics of interest. Jennifer wrote about the Fairtrade concept which was something most people, including myself, had never heard of before,’ he remembers.

Shortly after in October 2002, Fr Galvin and Jennifer hosted a Fairtrade coffee day in the parish centre.

‘It was to show people the Fairtrade products that could be purchased by them if they were stocked in local shops, things like bananas, tea, coffee and biscuits,’ Cionnaith said.

‘But it was also to get the message across that Fairtrade was not a charity where people got handouts, that it was empowering people in mainly Third World countries by guaranteeing them a fair price for their products which would give them security. It was something that was morally right. As the Chinese proverb says, it was like giving the fisherman a fishing rod rather than a fish to feed him for one day,’ he added.

Cionnaith, who was a member of the town council at the time, saw it as a great opportunity for Clonakilty, already recognised as a leader in many areas such as the Tidy Towns competition.

‘We contacted the Dublin Fairtrade office who told us the criteria involved to get the accreditation and we felt we could do it!’ he said.

Criteria included that Fairtrade products would be used by at least 10 of the town’s businesses and organisations, as well as the passing of a motion by the town’s council supporting the campaign.

Five organisations also had to pledge to use FT products and drink only FT tea/coffee at meetings.

The committee at a recent meeting planning the upcoming 20th birthday.

With Jennifer at the helm as chairperson, Fr Galvin and Cionnaith were joined on the committee by Rev Ian Jonas, Church of Ireland and Imelda Kingston representing the Methodist community. Every week starting in January 2003, the five met without fail around Jennifer’s kitchen table.

Jennifer said she first heard about Fairtrade when her daughter Patricia worked for a time on a peanut farm in Nicaragua.

‘She was talking a lot about it when she came back, and then another daughter of mine, Mary organised a talk on the topic, so suddenly it was very much on my radar,’ she remembers.

She grew up on a fruit farm in South Africa, and reared her own family on a dairy farm in North Cork.

‘As a producer myself I felt strongly that there should be equality for these growers,’ she said.

As the campaign gained momentum, the town’s young people got involved, through transition year programmes in Sacred Heart Secondary School, and gradually more and more shops began to stock FT products, giving them more shelf space.

‘We also designed a bilingual window sticker with the FT logo which we gave to any place selling or serving FT beverages or foodstuffs. They were visible on a lot of shop windows within a few months,’ said Cionnaith.

By June, just six months after starting the campaign, many of the criteria had been reached. However, there was one major hurdle to jump which was that one business had to convert exclusively to serving FT coffee.

An approach was made to David Henry, manager of the then Quality Hotel, now Clonakilty Park Hotel, who didn’t hesitate to support the campaign.

‘Morally, it was the right thing to do. The coffee might have cost us a little bit more, but in the scheme of things it didn’t matter that much to us, but it meant so much to producers on the other side of the world,’ he said, adding that they still serve FT coffee in the hotel.

Clonakilty, he said, was always a step ahead of the crowd: ‘This was a really positive story to be involved in, and great PR for the town.’

Over the past two decades, Clonakilty has hosted growers from places like Guatemala and Congo as part of Fairtrade Fortnight.

‘They were great opportunities to hear first-hand the impact of our work. The growers would tell us how their children could now go to school instead of having to help on farms, or how they were able to buy tractors or sink wells from their profits, so we could really see how lives were being enhanced,’ said Cionnaith.

Clonakilty also hosted the national Fairtrade conference on several occasions, which was another personal highlight for Cionnaith.

As it happened, 2003 was also the year that the Special Olympic World Games were held in Ireland and Clonakilty hosted members of the Danish team. A sign was erected on Convent Road to mark the occasion.

‘When we got our FT accreditation a few months later I approached local sign maker Tommy Tupper who reworked it into the Fairtrade sign that’s there today. To this day every time I see the sign, it brings me right back to both occasions, and makes me very proud,’ said Cionnaith.

Jennifer celebrated her 74th birthday the same day the town got its accreditation on September 22nd 2003, and her 94th birthday coincides with this weekend’s anniversary cele-brations.

After securing the title for Clonakilty, she devoted a lot of time travelling the country helping other communities in their efforts, which she said was very rewarding.

‘I’m really proud to have been involved in something so meaningful,’ she said.

Clonakilty has gone on to secure other ‘firsts’ including being the country’s first Autism Friendly Town, but this weekend the spotlight will be firmly focused on Fairtrade.

Celebrations will take place on Saturday 23rd from 4pm in the Green Dot Café, Pearse Street in collaboration with the town’s guitar festival. Music will be by The Sus Four, there’ll be an introduction to chocolate making by a local Fairtrade producer, and lots more.

West Cork towns lead the way

There are now five Fairtrade towns in West Cork, more than anywhere else in Ireland.

On 8 October 2005, Kinsale became Ireland’s second Fair Trade Town, with Clonakilty being the first.

West Cork’s five fairtrade towns are:
• Bandon,
• Bantry,
• Kinsale,
• Skibbereen,
• and Clonakilty.

Fairtrade: How does it work?

Fairtrade offers farmers in developing countries prices that aim to cover the average costs of producing their crop sustainably. It promotes fair working conditions and a ban on discrimination, forced labour, and child labour.

The system allows producers in these developing countries to plan for the future with added security.