On Wednesday June 6th, Minister McEntee launched Organic Focus, a new national group which aims to act as a driving force for the development of the Organic Sector in Ireland. The group is made up of representatives of sectoral stakeholders including organic meat, dairy, poultry, horticulture, cereals and aquaculture.
According to Minister McEntee, the principal objective of the group will be to “identify solutions where possible and develop strategies to progress the Organic Sector for the benefit of all”.
At the end of 2011 the estimated value of the Irish Organic market in 2011 was €100 million with 1,721 organic operators in Ireland and 52,390 hectares of land under organic production methods. Minister McEntee has appointed Mel O’Rourke, Managing Director of both Sylvan Ireland and Sylvan Europe to chair the new group. Sylvan have recently achieved Organic Status with the UK Soil Association for its new Red Yeast Rice product.
The Members of Organic Focus are as follows;
| Name | Sector | |
| 1. | Mel O’Rourke | Chairperson |
| 2. | John Purcell | Beef |
| 3. | Birgitta Hedin-Curtin | Seafood |
| 4. | Peter Young | Dairy |
| 5. | Cait Curran | Horticulture and Education |
| 6. | John Paul Crowe | Poultry, Eggs, Bacon, etc |
| 7. | Pauric Connolly | Organic Beef producer |
| 8. | John Flahavan | Cereals |
| 9. | Richard Galvin | Fruit |
| 10. | Lorcan Bourke | Bord Bia |
| 12. | Dan Clavin | Teagasc |
| 13. | Kevin McGeever | DAFM |
| 14. | Joan Furlong | DAFM |
