If a service provider operating in Ireland has a statement saying something to the effect of "We only employ Irish staff" - that is quite obviously attempting to promote the idea that non-nationals should get out of Ireland.
Racist? No
Xenophobic? Yes

"Irish owned" doesn't imply that all the staff are Irish.
It is probably an attempt to promote local Irish companies instead of massively wealthy multinational companies.

If a product has "Made in Ireland" written on it, there is nothing to indicate the nationality of the staff employed by the company who makes the product.
By buying the product you know you are helping to boost the Irish economy.

I hope this helps.

Are you serious? I would avoid those ones myself then.

You would have to be of the Volk I suppose.

That'd be my general feeling, and why I don't think service providers doing it is cool, as they all boost the local economy.

If the Irish card is played to suggest a superior quality where there is no evidence this exists then it is plainly wrong, good or service.

Let's consider an Irish product on the shelf beside an imported product ...the Irish sign is quietly encouraging the buyer to prefer the domestic product to the foreign one. So when a taxi has an Irish sign, isn't it saying, "I'm Irish, not a foreigner"? Isn't it aimed at achieving the same effect?

Except that with goods, it's saying "buy the locally made thing instead of the thing made abroad". Where as with domestic non-importable services, it's saying "choose the native over the foreigner next to him". So it's hostile to foreigners living and working in Ireland.

I still cant see an issue with people being able to have access to information on the source of their services and so they can how they want to spend their own money

Voting with your feet and your euros is a powerful force for change, surely people
should be able to do it in the most informed way possible?

Id prefer to encourage Irish business and employment when I can,and im certainly not a racist or a xenophobe.Just a patriot

I have to say I like to see Irish people at work I try to pick as many Irish staff as I can and I think it says something as much about supporting our own as anything else. It's a bit like the Love Irish Food advertising, nothing wrong with it. Love Irish people ... is there something wrong there?

@ Crowst, eh its not strictly kosher to recruit in such a way. However, personally I have a preference for dealing with Irish people when it comes to hospitals, hospitality and customer services.

I think if they advertised their employees as exclusively Irish they would lose my business. The Ireland I grew up in was a deeply racist and xenophobic place, there are Irish businesses in Australia right now who only employ their "own", and the narrow Irish definition of Irish at that. I am surprised that the locals are not fed up with their antics already.

I must say,for the time of year that's in it being the Gaire fancy dress party
tomorrow, I will not have to be as careful with what kind of driver I get
as me costume this year isn't as likely to insight the kind of barefaced unabashed hostility that me Amy Winehouse one did on a previous year......

Ah, so you're coming as Miley Cyrus this year then?

Maybe as a hammer or wrecking ball?

I prefer my family to my friends, my friends to my neighbours, my neighbours to others in my city then my county then my country, and I prefer them to foreigners.
That's normal.
So it's normal too to prefer people of your own race or bridge club. It's normal if I prefer my Black nephew to a Romanian beggar from Rommania but I also prefer my White sister to my Black nephew. People prefer some people for many reasons, it's called freedom. As long as we do not discriminate outside our private lives it's fine. Otherwise why bother have borders and nations and we can give unemployment to someone who was born and lives and will die in Nigeria just because "we're all human".
It's only natural to be aware of differences in age, gender and races. We are not blind!

A bar in my town has introduced a No Foreigners Welcome Policy.....Staff have been instructed not to serve foreigners at the bar..

How do they qualify foreign?