It is now something of a tradition for supermarkets to host a festival of food and drink from the Emerald Isle around the local Irish community’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Auchan supermarket in Kirchberg is doing just that with a selection of goods that showcases some of the best of Ireland’s producers. Irish ambassador to Luxembourg Peadar Carpenter was joined by a delegation from the Irish parliamentary committee on agriculture, food and marine to open the festival.

The committee’s chairman, Andrew Doyle, says that Ireland’s agricultural produce is among the finest in the world. “It is one of the cornerstones of our high performing export sector which has been at the forefront of our economic recovery.” Indeed, the agriculture industry accounts for 165,000 direct jobs and there are 160,000 family farms in Ireland.

Ireland is the only EU country that has been granted access for its beef to the USA and China, though 30% of its exports are within the EU. “I know that Luxembourg imports a large amount of our premium beef and seafood products,” says Doyle, who also had what he called a productive meeting with colleagues from the Luxemburg parliament during his visit, on which he was accompanied by fellow member of the Irish parliament Michael McNamara.

Doyle says that the launch of Ireland’s Origin Green initiative has put the country well on its way to being a global leader in sustainable food production. “We want to see a sustainable use of land that will see us in a position to meet the challenges of the coming decades and provide for our future generations. It is vital that the world ensures that every human being has the right to healthy, secure and sufficient for their basic needs.”

Among the products on sale during Auchan’s Irish celebrations are organic mussels, smoked salmon, whiskey, stout and cider. “I was particularly delighted to have been asked to launch the St Patrick’s Day Festival by Auchan,” Doyle said. “I understand Luxembourg will have many events during March to celebrate and share our Irish culture and heritage and all these events are symbols of the friendship that exists between our two countries.”

More details of those celebrations will appear on Delano’s website next week.