There are a lot of “Irish” in America. No I’m not talking about visiting J1 Visa students rather I’m talking about the “great-great-grandfather” Irish.
Pat Burke from Tipperary and Alan Jenkins from Cork, believe they can make money from muck. out a way of treating soil so it could be imported into the States legally. The soil is sourced from different parts of Ireland and brought to a treatment factory in Cahir. It is then mixed, treated and packaged into 3/4lb bags and shipped to the company’s depot in Long Island, NY. From there, the officialirishdirt.com - is the Irish Eurovision entry Riverdance now in the public domain?- is distributed around America where it is sold for USD 15 (currently about EUR 11.40) .
A wealthy octogenarian Manhattan businessman with Galweigan roots was “in two minds as to where he wanted to be buried [either in his native Ireland or his adopted USA], so he contacted officialirishdirt.com and got the best of both worlds” by having irish dirt imported to the US for his grave. He has already paid a deposit of USD 25,000 and the rest will be paid when he passes on. A confidentiality agreement signed between the two parties precludes the disclosure of the mans identity, so we cannot verify.
The initial idea of selling the soil came to Pat and Alan about a year ago and they sold their first bag in October 2006.
Funeral homes were the first customers and since then the idea has caught on, with everyone from flower shops to wedding planners buying the soil and shamrock seed, which the company sells for USD 2 (currently about EUR 1.50).
In the run-up to St Patrick’s Day, demand for the dirt was huge, according to a spokesperson for the company. “People living abroad get very sentimental about things and the idea of buying the soil or shamrock seed lets them feel a bit closer to home”.
Nearly 90 percent of officialirishdirt.com’s business comes from the US. The company says 80 per cent of the profits are donated to the Jack and Jill and Sr Consillio’s charities.
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