OVER 100 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE
OUR STORY
1840-1920s: Our Beginning
As a young man, Brian Mulloy emigrated from Ireland to America during the Great Famine and instead of making ‘the land of the free’ his new home Brian yearned to return to his beloved Ireland. In the 1860s, Brian did what many considered the impossible, and made his way back to his native land. He started business on the seas from Blacksod Bay to Clew Bay and beyond, catching fish for a local fish merchant.
1920-1940s: A generation passed, and Pat Mulloy decided to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. Pat was a shopkeeper and keen businessman with an entrepreneurial eye, and recognised the potential of making a living from the sea. In the 1920s he started to export shellfish to the UK for the Billingsgate market in London.
1940-1950s – A New Era Begins
Pat’s son Andrew continued the shop business but died, leaving a young wife and two small children behind. In 1945, at just 16, Andrew’s son Padraic took over as head of the family. With his heart fully rooted in the land and seas around Kilmeena, Co Mayo, Padraic made his start in the seafood business by selling herrings, which he purchased at local markets. This allowed him to buy his first van, in the late 1950s and Padraic travelled around Connemara and Achill buying periwinkles.
1950-1980s: By the 1960s Padraic had expanded his product base to periwinkles, oysters and mussels, exporting to France and Holland, as well as the UK. Padraic married Catherine (Kitty) in 1961 and together with their children worked in the seafood business. Padraic like his great-grandfather instilled in his family the vision of what was necessary for the company to flourish.
1990: Connemara Seafoods is Born
Since the establishment of Connemara Seafoods three of the children (Andy, Ann-Marie & Pat) have continued to grow and develop the business. The Company’s state-of-the-art facility operates using leading production technologies to produce frozen, whole shell, vacuum packed, individual quick frozen, pasteurised, chilled and fresh products allowing them to deliver to countries all over the world.
