Providing turkeys for the Irish market. How the traditional meat of choice ends up on the majority of Christmas dinner plates.
Over 700,000 fresh turkeys will come through the Christmas market this year. A further 126,000 frozen turkeys will also be on sale.
Today, turkey production is big business.
In the last twelve months, over 1.2 million turkey birds were produced in Ireland, an increase of 175,000 on the previous year. With 6,500 turkey producers in the country, the work of preparing for the Christmas market begins at the height of summer.
Turkey producer John O'Connor provides some tips on what to look for when buying a turkey.
If you're living in Dublin and are looking for a bargain turkey, then the best place to come is Moore Street market. Butcher John Buckley describes the demand for turkeys and the price a customer can expect to pay.
This episode of PM was broadcast on 14 December 1977. The reporter is Nicholas Coffey.
PM was a magazine series reporting on aspects of Irish life with interludes for music from Irish performers. PM first began on Tuesday, 20 September 1977 and was initially aired three nights a week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7.00pm on RTÉ 1. The original presenters John O'Donoghue, Áine O'Connor, Nicholas Coffey and Doireann Ní Bhriain were later joined by Pat Kenny.
As editor Noel Smyth sees it, the Tuesday programme will consist mainly of film reports on topical events anywhere in Ireland, the Wednesday edition will concentrate on studio discussions, and the Thursday programme will be in Irish, with just as wide a brief as the other two.
(RTÉ Guide, 16 September 1977, Vol 1, No 37, p 18)
PM ran until 12 April 1979.
