{"id":458525,"date":"2026-05-20T14:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T14:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/458525\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T14:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T14:56:09","slug":"bigger-fines-needed-after-made-in-ireland-labels-on-pakistani-jumpers-ccpc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/458525\/","title":{"rendered":"Bigger fines needed after ‘Made in Ireland’ labels on Pakistani jumpers – CCPC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland\u2019s consumer watchdog has called for bigger fines for lawbreaking businesses after a company was fined for placing \u2018Made in Ireland\u2019 tags on jumpers actually made in Pakistan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Quills Retail Ltd pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching consumer protection law at Killarney District Court.<\/p>\n

The business was fined \u20ac500 and was ordered to pay \u20ac1,000 in costs to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On The Claire Byrne Show<\/a>, CCPC Chairperson Brian McHugh said what Quills did was morally wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder consumer law, businesses cannot provide misleading information to consumers,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s really important that consumers have the right information before they make their buying decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that information can include geographic origin where the product is from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every year, the CCPC receives around 40,000 tip offs every year and carries out hundreds of inspections.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Recently, an individual complained about the jumpers sold in Quill\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The CCPC organised a surprise inspection of the company\u2019s shops in Kenmare and Killarney.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found products which were labelled as made in Ireland – but clearly they weren’t made in Ireland,\u201d Mr McHugh said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were made in Pakistan and they had the made in Pakistan labels removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" Quill’s in Kenmare. Picture by: Alamy.com.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr McHugh described this as a \u201cmisleading\u201d practice that undermines people who actually make and sell Irish products.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have businesses in Ireland who are making products in Ireland and for them to be able to sell them,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s important that made in Ireland means something and consumers can trust that it is made in Ireland.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

If a company is found to be in breach of consumer law, a fixed payment notice can be issued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The CCPC also typically initiates 10 prosecutions a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve had prosecutions against Tesco’s, against Boots, against Brown Thomas and Lifestyle Sports,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday, we had the prosecution against Quills.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we’re very active in the area and we’re very reliant on consumer contacts. So we really do encourage them.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Mr McHugh believes there is more that the CCPC could do – if it had the power to levy greater fines on rulebreakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe absolutely want to see the ability to have higher fines, which match the breaches of the law that we see,\u201d he argued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, the punishment must fit the crime; currently, there’s not a system in place in our view to achieve that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Main image: Quill’s in Kenmare. Picture by Alamy.com.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s consumer watchdog has called for bigger fines for lawbreaking businesses after a company was fined for placing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-458525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}