Good cooks needed to bring potential to boil

Ireland should have genuine ambition to elevate its standing in the global food and beverage industry at a variety of levels.

By adopting a strategy that thinks bottom-up and top-down, the country can capture international markets and a greater share of high spending tourists who value world class food and drink standards.

Last week, my wife took me to Lismore and we dined in the O’Brien Chop House in the town. This establishment precisely defines the bottom-up approach. Its standard of service and food preparation can be easily ranked alongside first class restaurants in London, Paris or New York, but its roots in to local enterprise are equally impressive.