Clodagh Ryan and family (Mullingar, Co Westmeath) are deeply committed to Fairtrade and they buy Fairtrade food and clothes, whenever they can. They love the fact that many Fairtrade goods are grown organically and that it is becoming more common to see Fairtrade cotton in the shops. Aoife and Oisin can tell you exactly which are the best Fairtrade brands of chocolate to buy!
Clodagh spreads the Fairtrade message by giving talks in local schools. She finds children and young people readily take to the idea (her free chocolate samples help!). They are always keen to find out where they can buy Fairtrade chocolate for themselves. “Young people, who wouldn’t be able to afford to give regularly to charity, realise that this is a way they can help,” says Clodagh. “It is a way of caring for their neighbours in the developing world in a very proactive way by giving them a fair price for their product.”
Clodagh joined her parents on the Mullingar Fairtrade Steering Committee in 2004 and was delighted when the town was awarded Fairtrade status in 2006. The campaign had involved “a lot of footwork”, visiting shops, cafés and restaurants to try to persuade them to sell/serve Fairtrade products as well as canvassing the wider public.
Some people didn’t want to know, a few embraced the idea with enthusiasm, while others were suspicious that they were being asked to sell an inferior product. Free samples, coffee mornings and blind tastings (where Fairtrade won out unanimously) helped allay people’s fears and the vast majority has now taken Fairtrade to heart.
“It’s part of our responsibility to help people who are less well off and buying Fairtrade is such a simple way to do it,” says Clodagh. “Every day you’re doing your shopping, you’re buying these staples and why not buy a fairly traded product, which is just as good? Better, in some cases.”