My name is Sean Rooney and I farm and run a traditional craft butcher shop on Castle Street in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal. It is a family run business and I am second generation in the craft butcher trade with my father Vincent having opened a shop on College Street, in Ballyshannon in the 1960’s. The recent and ongoing horsemeat scandal serves to illustrate how important it is to trust a food source. We take pride in the fact that we can trace all our meat from pasture to plate. We source most of our beef and lamb locally from farmers who have been associated with our company since my father’s time.
Supermarket outlets have had a detrimental effect on the craft butcher but as has been shown during the horsemeat scandal at what cost.
We breed and purchase only the finest quality cattle, which are slaughtered and hung at our own state of the art abattoir. Unfortunately the number of small abattoirs has reduced from 1,200 to just 110 over the last 15 years. The Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland (ACBI) is trying to preserve the tradition of abattoirs connected to the shop they serve. But increased inspections and red tape have forced many butchers to close their abattoir.
I source cattle, lambs and pigs from local farmers and so can be sure of their quality, and you could say that it is a labour of love for me.
As Minister Coveney stated recentlyin connection with the horsemeat scandal;
“It’s frustrating that we are hearing every week about big brands, big companies have been affected and had to withdraw products” and he went on to say “Although there are some mechanisms in place, they have not been enough to stall fraud which is on such a massive scale”.
The MED Gate to Plate Project some years ago envisaged and anticipated this very scenario.
My home farm is approx 40 acres of fair quality land, but due to pressure of work in the shop I now have it leased.
In 1988 I built a new licensed abattoir on a green field site, near the scenic Lough Melvin about 3.5 miles from Ballyshannon. We kill on average 10-15 cattle, 25 lambs and 10 pigs a week. As you can imagine this entails quite an amount of work. Despite the trend towards more exotic breeds, I still would have a preference for a Charolais steak. We dry-age all our beef using slow traditional methods to produce meat of unsurpassed excellence and taste. The result is meat with a natural sweetness, a deep red colour and superb cooking and eating qualities. Nowadays few butchers practice dry-aging, but we believe it is the only way to deliver ultimate quality meat. We are also one of a very few butchers curing our own bacon to ensure it is the best quality you will find anywhere.
Founded by my father Vincent Rooney in 1961, the butcher shop was originally located on College St, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal. He retired in 1986, at which point I took over the business. I began developing more modern, value added products in addition to the traditional produce, to compliment the modern consumer’s needs. 1995 saw huge changes at Rooney’s Butchers. We purchased and renovated a more central premise’s on Castle Street, Ballyshannon and later we expanded this shop to include Hot Food, Deli Counters, Class 1 Fruit & Vegetables, Dairy Products and a wide range of Groceries all under one roof. In 2006, my wife Rita joined the team and added new lines to our DeliRange with great success.
The benefits of having our own abattoir and our own shop to sell our beef, lamb and pork allows us to guarantee our customer’s ,100% traceability and quality, which we believe is essential to the consumer when they buy meat today. We are proud to give this guarantee to our customers. We also process cattle, lambs, pigs and deer (when in season) for the farmers own freezer.
Over the years we have participated in various competitions receiving many accolades and awards. We have also been finalists on numerous occasions in the Associated Craft Butcher of Ireland (ACBI), Star Shop of the Year Awards.
But the greatest reward for me is still the compliments paid to us by our customers.
Sean Rooney’s Craft Butchers Shop on Castle Street, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal