Local ingredients

Ireland's drinks industry has deep linkages with the domestic economy, sourcing 62% in services and 42% in materials, leading to a combined €800m spent in the domestic economy. This greatly exceeds the domestic content levels of other sectors. For example, domestic purchases by companies in the chemicals sector are only 8% of their total purchases.

According to a combination of industry and CSO figures, the drinks industry sources about 180,000 tonnes of barley at a value of €26.4million for use in brewing and distilling. Barley for malting comes from nine counties: Carlow, Kildare, Wexford, Laois, Wicklow, Kilkenny, Waterford, Tipperary and Cork. While other counties provide some barley, it is of very small magnitude.

The industry also sources 300 million litres of milk domestically.