CLONAKILTY black pudding, Cork drisheen, Wicklow lamb and Irish rashers may make it into the Euro-league of protected foods after all.
In 1992 the then EC asked the Department of Agriculture to inform the Commission if it wanted registration of food stuffs or agricultural produce unique to Ireland.
According to the Department of Agriculture it consulted widely with the industry but no products were at the time registered at national level and no applications for registration were submitted.
According to reports from the EU, only Ireland and Sweden failed to make application while other countries submitted 1,200 different items for registration and protection under EU regulation 2081/92.
One of Ireland's lending cooks, Ms Darina Allen of Ballymaloe House, has attacked the Department for failing to create enough interest in the new regulations.
"We should be registering our farmhouse cheeses, Connemara and Wicklow lamb, Irish bacon, Lough Neagh eels, smoked fish, Clonakilty and other black puddings and other wonderful foods that we have here," she said.
She said that the Irish brown breads, like Macroom oatmeal and free range chicken and duckling products, potatoes and dozens of other products should be registered.
She said there was a clear role for An Bord Bin, the food board, which did not exist in 1992, to help in the registration which was still open to Irish companies and food producers.
Now An Bord Bin has confirmed it is consulting the Department to set up a national authority to register Irish foods.