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Four Irish restaurants join the list of 20 Bib Gourmand recipients whose names feature in the 2020 Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland.

Michelin Bib Gourmand awards recognise those establishments offering good food at affordable prices.

The four newcomers are: Thyme (Athlone); Land to Sea (Dingle); Circa (Terenure) and Uno Mas (Aungier Street, Dublin).

 Others, all of which retain Bib Gourmand status from earlier years, are 1826 Adare (Adare); Aldridge Lodge (Duncannon); Brownes (Tuam); Chart House (Dingle); The Courthouse (Carrickmacross); Dillon’s (Timoleague, Cork); Giovannelli (Killorglin); Kai (Galway City); Morrissey’s (Doonbeg); Sha-Roe Bistro (Clonegal); Tartare Café & Wine Bar (Galway City) and TwoCooks (Sallins).

In Dublin city, Clanbrassil House (Clanbrassil Street); Pichet (Trinity Street); Pigeon House (Clontarf); and Richmond (Portobello) retain their Bib Gourmand status.

As part of a targeted 2020 sales drive, Fáilte Ireland this week hosted a custom-made workshop providing Irish tourism businesses with an opportunity to pitch directly to a group of Canadian tour operators.

 The workshop, which was hosted by Fáilte Ireland,in conjunction with Tourism Ireland took place at The Johnstown Estate, Enfield, Co. Meath.

 With just 27 days remaining before the Brexit deadline of 31st October, tourism businesses are ramping up their preparations by attending Fáilte Ireland tailored workshop targeting the Canadian market.

Up to 810 one-to-one meetings between 55 Irish trade and 18 Canadian tour operators will take place over the course of the day with the goal of securing business for 2020 and beyond.

Brewers, distillers, publicans, restauranteurs, hoteliers and off-licence owners, and other Irish drinks and hospitality entrepreneurs are looking to Minister Paschal Donohoe for support and protection ahead of the final Budget before Brexit, according to the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland’s (DIGI) Budget Submission.

  The drinks and broader hospitality sector employs 175,000 people, or nearly 8% of the Irish workforce. Many of these jobs, particularly those in drinks production, are located outside of Dublin while hospitality employment has grown faster than total employment in the past number of years.**

  A no-deal Brexit will disproportionately affect the sector, particularly if sterling depreciates further against the euro. Parity or near-parity will lower the value of drinks exports to the UK, increase import prices, increase the threat of cross border shopping and further reduce the number of British tourists visiting Ireland.

Ollie Keenan (pictured) is Sodexo All-Ireland Chef of the Year for 2019, winning gold for his sustainable themed menu.  Ollie will now compete in front of a live audience at the Sodexo UK and Ireland Grand Final at the HRC Show (formerly Hotelympia) in London in March 2020.

  The theme of this year’s competition is ‘Celebrating Our Sustainable Future’ and the focus was on the creative use of sustainable ingredients that support the Future 50 Foods initiative.  75% of the global food supply comes from only 12 plant and five animal species and the initiative is to help promote the top 50 plant-based foods identified by WWF-UK and Knorr Professional, that need to be incorporated more into daily food consumption to drive positive change in the use of natural resources.