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Siobhán Ni Ghairbith, St Tola Goat Cheese

Siobhán Ni Ghairbhith, an ex-primary school teacher, has been leading her team at St.Tola Goat farm since 1999.

She has brought St.Tola from a tiny artisan seasonal business to an internationally recognised brand. Sustainability is at the core of her philosophy, protecting her small family farm for the long-term benefit of all those creatures that live on it and live off it. Her sense of place and its culture is true to all that she does in not just creating a truly artisan cheese, but being involved in educating others about the importance of sense of place with honestfood with true provenance ,with sustainability at its core. She does this through her own business and by working with networks such as The Burren Eco-Tourism Network, CAIS -The Irish Cheesemakers Association, Euro Toques Ireland, Food On The Edge and Slow Food International.

Siobhan has an honours degree in Primary Education from Mary Immaculate College of Educationplus an honours post graduate diploma in Business Studies from University College Galway.

She is the current chairperson of Irish Cheese Direct -an innovative company, whose membership is made up of 7 leading Irish Farmhouse Cheesemakers.

Her company has one many national and international awards down through the years including Blas na hEireann, the Great Taste Awards, Primo Roma Award ,The World Cheese Awardsand sustainability award by The Irish Food Writers Guild.