YOU suggest that the Crafts Council of Ireland (CCoI) encourages the outsourcing of craft production to China (Make it in China says crafts body, News, July 24).

I am obliged to point out that I told your journalist that CCoI did not encourage this.

Setting aside the fact that CCoI supports the craft industry to compete more effectively with low-cost imports in order to preserve craft manufacture in Ireland, it would be totally impractical for the council to suggest that craftspeople should outsource their production to any low-cost country, let alone China.

The unit cost of Chinese production might be low, but the volume of units needed to make commissioning production viable would require financing well beyond the means of the Irish craft companies who make up our client base.

There are ways to counter low-cost competition, but “making it in China” is certainly not one of them in terms of the Irish crafts industry.

Among the many client- development services described in the council’s strategic plan, on our website or in the continuing issues of our industry newsletter Stopress, there is nothing that would remotely suggest that CCoI encourages craftspeople to pursue such a ludicrous policy.

Leslie Reed
Chief Executive
Crafts Council of Ireland (CCoI)
Kilkenny

Times Recommends

• Henning Mankell: ‘If Wallander was alive, I wouldn’t be a friend of his’
• Secret society's skull and crossbones for sale
• Nigerian leader vanishes after medical treatment