Doran’s Group Sustainability Policy

Here at Doran’s fish market, Howth School of Fish and our three seafood restaurants, we are committed to operating in a sustainable manner.

We formed a green team in early 2022 and have since then made great strides in our bid to operate a carbon neutral business and change how we do business to protect the Howth Biosphere in which we operate.

This policy applies to all units in the Doran’s group including:

Doran’s Fish Shop and Deli
Howth School of Fish
Octopussy Restaurant
The Oar House Restaurant
Hooked by Doran’s Restaurant
Doran’s Skippers Mate

This policy will be reviewed in June 2023

Howth School of Fish is an intermediate member of Sustainable Travel Ireland

Vision/Mission/Core Values

• We put our staff and customers at the heart of our business
• We respect individuality and do not discriminate
• We operate with dignity and integrity
• We strive to protect and respect our planet

 

Our mission is to place the ocean and the local tourist and domestic market in harmony with each other.  We strive to keep the Irish fishing industry supported and educate our guests and staff in ocean life and conservation.

Our vision is to become a leader in sustainable tourism in North County Dublin.  We support our fellow local businesses in their sustainability journey through our leading role in Howth Tourism and sharing information will eventually lead to the “Greening” of our peninsula.

Our ethos is to regenerate what we take from the area and the ocean. We aim to deliver our social and environmental business goals through education, local employment and responsible use of resources in our day-to-day operations.

UNTWO Definition

We at Doran’s on the Pier and our group members believe that sustainable tourism is tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts while addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities (UNWTO, n.d.) We therefore aim to reduce our negative effects and increase our positive impacts.

Continuous Improvement

Sustainability is a journey of continuous improvement, and we will strive to learn and educate our staff along this journey.  To date we have assembled our Green Team, and assigned leaders to manage our outputs of energy, waste, and reduction in water consumption.  Our team are monitoring our outputs and measurements will be benchmarked against targets set to ensure year on year reductions.

1. Energy consumption

• To reduce energy consumption, we have commenced measuring outputs by monitoring bills and using sub metres to measure resources being used by devices.
• We aim to reduce our energy consumption by 10% in our first year of measurements.
• We aim to switch to a 100% renewable energy sources by the end of 2022.
• Our energy leader is managing a process of energy saving across all departments. This includes use of timers, switching off lights and devices when possible and replacing old inefficient appliances and machines with new lower energy versions.

2. Water Consumption

•  We aim to reduce water consumption by 10% over 12 months
• We installed a rainwater capture system that feeds into the toilets and power hose used to wash the premises.
• We will commence measuring our water output in July 2022 and will maximise our circular water system to regenerate the water we use in our business.
• We will replace our toilets will low water use cisterns by the end of 2022.

3. Waste Production

• We have commenced measuring our waste production each month and are committed to recycling and composting to reduce waste production.
• We have appointed a waste manager who along with our finance department is segregating waste and measuring cost savings.
• We are committed to reducing food waste and along with giving away free unsold meals we are on the togoodtogoapp with the target of zero food waste by the end o0f 2023.
• We are committed to eliminating plastic packaging and using only compostable packaging by the end of 2022.

4. Ethical Purchasing

• Doran’s Group are committed to ethical purchasing and are working with our suppliers to develop an ethical purchasing standard with an agreement to be in place by the end of 2022.
• Doran’s group buy local where possible and are working with local fishermen and butchers to purchase our fish and meat. If 50km radius is not possible we try to source from the rest of Ireland.
• We aim to switch to eco label only suppliers where possible by the end of 2022.

5. Carbon Offsetting

• We are currently reviewing our carbon footprint and we aim to reduce our footprint by 50% by the end of 2023.
• Our entire Green Team will receive training in carbon footprint measurement to commence benchmarking and measurement of reductions.
• We aim to agree on a carbon offsetting partner by the end of 2022.
• We are part of a committee for Howth Tourism and are actively involved in activities aiming to reduce carbon emissions generated by tourism on the Howth Peninsula.

 

6. Responsible Sustainability Marketing

• We commit to honestly communicating our sustainability principles and successes with our customers and wider community.
• We will always avoid greenwashing and share positive recommendations on our social media and website.

7. Social Responsibility

• We support the local community through employment schemes, sponsorship and membership of ocean related biodiversity projects.  Our School of Fish is a social tourism business which employs retired fishermen and educates visitors on ocean sustainability.
• We have a diversity inclusive hiring policy and are currently working with locally housed Ukrainian refugees to hire them in our businesses.
• We sponsor the Homefarm United Senior Ladies Soccer Team to assist them in raising the profile of women’s soccer in Ireland.
• We regularly support local clubs and schools in fundraising initiatives supplying vouchers for fundraising raffles.

 

8. Supporting Biodiversity

• We are committed to supporting biodiversity in the local area through our work with the local fishing industry, Board Iascaigh Mhara and sea clean projects in our local area.
• We are training our staff with regular outings with local biodiversity experts looking at foraging, bee keeping and marine life.
• We are working with Howth Tourism to adopt a regenerative approach to tourism on the Howth Peninsula, in line with the draft Fingal County Council biodiversity action plan 2022-2030