Fire sale: selling the 'oul sod' to an American audience

Galwayman proves there's gold in them thar' turf fires !

Galway man ‘keeps the fires burning’ in America 

Keeping the home fires burning

Congratulations to inventor Dermot Ryan who seems set to earn his fortune from a simple idea he got when he attended a family function in a hotel where there was a video playing in a mock fireplace of a log fire. Dermot said to himself, why not make a film of an Irish turf fire so off he went and got a load of hand-cut turf that he videoed burning in a traditional fireplace.

The film lasts for just over an hour and shows the fire blazing brightly to dying away with glowing embers. At first he achieved sales by the 10s and 20s but he got his big  break when his invention was featured in a US catalogue that is sent to five million Irish/American homes across the United States. On foot of that, he secured a spot on the shopping channel QVC and, ever since, the orders have been flowing in. If you want to see what it looks like, watch it on YouTube at www.irishturffire.com.