A NEW website has brought together some of Ireland’s best-known luxury brands from Waterford and Galway Crystal to Foxford wool blankets and Belleek Pottery to capture the international appetite for all things Irish.
A total of 100 Irish companies will be represented on Siopa.com and it is being supported by Enterprise Ireland.
The website is being targeted at the US market and, specifically, Irish-Americans.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny attended the launch at the Shelbourne Hotel yesterday, with dozens of suppliers.
The Taoiseach was given a commemorative pin to present to US president Barack Obama later this month. He joked he already has “3,000 gifts” to present.
Mr Kenny said he was impressed “no junk” would be sold on the website and orders would be expedited as quickly as possible.
Siopa.com would “instantly and in a global sense” give people who wanted to buy Irish products a chance to do so. A person in New Zealand could take delivery of a desired product within three to five working days. “At the push of the button, the world comes to Ireland,” he explained.
The business has been set up by internet entrepreneur Lulu O’Sullivan. She is also behind GiftsDirect.com, set up eight years ago.
Siopa.com employs 15 full-time staff and expects 100 local jobs in indigenous Irish craft and gift businesses to be created when the business is fully up and running.
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