The Department of Agriculture has launched the national opposition procedure for registering ‘certified Irish Angus beef’ as a protected geographical indication (PGI) for the entire island of Ireland.

This procedure must be completed at national level before a formal PGI application can be submitted to the European Commission.

Any person or legal entity in the country can lodge an opposition to the proposed PGI until 24 January 2024.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue announced the opening of the procedure on Friday and thanked the certified Irish Angus Producer Group for the work it put into preparing an application.

“I am delighted that the application has progressed to this stage and I am aware of the significant amount of work that has been undertaken to date,” the Minister said.

The opening of the procedure follows work undertaken by the Department officials and their counterparts in the UK.

Separate grass fed standard

The PGI application for Irish Grass Fed Beef, which is separate from the certified Irish Angus beef, went through the same national opposition process in 2020.

This Irish Grass Fed Beef standard is expected to be published over the coming weeks, which will mark the last step in fully-establishing that PGI.

Minister McConalogue added that he was “particularly pleased about the all-island basis” of the proposed new Angus beef PGI.

“It follows the all-island application for the Irish Grass Fed Beef PGI. This joint application demonstrates the strong ongoing co-operation between my Department and their counterparts in Northern Ireland on agricultural matters,” he said.