State papers: Bushmills asked Government for help after US boycott over discrimination claims

The boycott of Bushmills whiskey in San Francisco had been organised by the United Irish Societies in early 1996 in protest over the company’s distillery appearing to have unchanged hiring practises despite 23 years of “so-called, fair employment legislation”. 

A boycott of Bushmills whiskey in the US over alleged sectarian employment practices forced Irish Distillers to seek assistance from the Irish government in the mid-1990s.

Newly-released State papers show the leading drinks company was highly concerned between 1996 and 1997 about a boycott that had been organised of Bushmills in the San Francisco region over claims of discrimination against the hiring of Catholic workers at its distillery in Bushmills, Co. Antrim.