Irish Dairy Board comes out on top as exporters honoured at awards ceremony

THE IRISH Dairy Board was recognised as the Exporter of the Year 2010 at an an awards ceremony in Dublin last night.

The Irish Exporters Association recognised the Irish Dairy Board for its success with the Kerrygold brand in the international market.

Last year the Irish Dairy Board exported €780 million of products to 90 countries. It is the largest exporter of dairy goods in the country and accounts for 60 per cent of all Irish dairy exports. The Irish Dairy Board had earlier won the food and drink category.

The Emerging Exporter Award went to Hot Irishman, a Carlow company which has developed a number of spirit brands including Irish whiskey, coffee and cream liqueurs.

The award in the multinational sector went to Boston Scientific, the US maker of medical devices which employs 5,000 people in Galway, Clonmel and Cork.

Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, which exports diagnostic equipment to 48 countries, won in the life sciences category.

The Services Export Award went to PM Group, which provides architectural, engineering and technical services to customers in 30 countries around the world.

Trustwater, a Clonmel supplier of a cleaning and sanitising product won the manufacturing award, while Openet was recognised in the software category.

Exporters “are proving that with the right strategy and vision that growth can still be achieved”, said Mark Fitzgerald, president of the Irish Exporters Association.