TG Yes,we get through about a bottle of O'Mahoneys Kilkenny Relish a month,a great Irish delicacy

M And yet...I've never seen it for sale in Ireland.

JJ In fact, O'Mahoney, despite being a true Irish culinary giant, was subject to a vicious copyright campaign by a well known American company who wanted to make Kilkenny Relish one of their own brands, in an attempt to go way up market. They partially succeeded in that O'Mahoney was forced, via a carefully constructed, but false, provenance for his relish, to not market his product in the Republic. The case is very similar to the famous Budvar/Budweiser row. Even in the UK, various restrictive practices mean that the product is only available via mail order to subscribers who have passed certain confidentiality and suitability criteria - that's why searches relating to the product will yield almost no results. Indeed, users consider themselves part of a privileged elite.

Paul I find myself slavering every time you talk about O'Mahoney's could you possibly send me details of where I can order some just to try it ?

JJ Unfortunately, when you become an authorised Kilkenny Relish purchaser (which is, in itself, a tortuous process), you are compelled to sign a confidentiality agreement (which is enforceable in UK law). In fact, new purchasers tend to arrive at that status via invitation only and even how that happens is via secret ballot only. The ballot is amongst an elite "super user" group, whose identity is, of course, secret. All would be purchasers can do is subtly allow their aspirations to "get out there" and then they wait (and in some cases, it can be a life time). All I can say is "good luck".