After the county endured sucessive job losses totalling 937 since 2003, with cuts at Greencore, Braun, Celtic Linen and Trek, business and political leaders have been searching for a path to recovery. With the so-called 'green agenda' gaining currency in the business community, Fairtrade has become a key plank in the local development platform. What started out as modest initiative to promote "a better deal for Third World producers" has become part of a county-wide image makeover that includes proposals for Euro50 million national bioenergy centre and a resolution to make Carlow Ireland's first 'green energy' town if the Green Party forms part of the next government.

According to Green Party deputy leader Cllr Mary White, who chaired the Fairtrade committee: "It's not just smart to be green, but it makes economic sense. Carlow will be a model for business with a conscience - we want to send a message to companies to locate here."

The Fairtrade brand continues to gather strength.

Sales in Ireland grew 40% last year, according to Fairtrade Ireland, and a poll conducted in January by Empathy Research found 56% of people recognised the Fairtrade Mark. Research last year found recognition was approaching two-thirds among the most affluent demographic. And the brand has overwhelmingly positive associations, too, deriving from its positioning in both the ethical and luxury niches, especially among coffee drinkers. This is why mainstream businesses such as Bewleys, Marks & Spencer and Ryanair have lent support to the Fairtrade project.

Just as the Fairtrade mark offers an avenue into the value-added end of the retail markets, so towns such as Carlow can leverage Fairtrade's ethical cachet to help establish themselves as boutique brands in their own right and spread Fairtrade's ethical equity right across the local economy.

Social psychologists call this the halo effect: when the perceived positive attributes of a brand are seen to apply to related brands. The hope is that Fairtrade's glow will illuminate Carlow.

"Rather than diversifying [the local economy], we want to focus on being the best on the green agenda, " says Jacqui McNabb, chief executive of the Carlow Chamber. "We would like to be perceived as personable and Fairtrade shows our inclusiveness. We hope the social aspect of Fairtrade would attract affluent, socially conscious people who want to live and work here."

She cites the goodwill, trust and comfort Fairtrade projects as its brand values as key differentiators for Carlow in the competition to attract white collar workers moving out of Dublin.

"The business community is as interested in this as it is in basic competitiveness issues, " she says.

Fairtrade Ireland's executive director, Peter Gaynor, concedes that "there is some kind of cachet to have met the [Fairtrade towns] criteria? it shows a healthy, outward-looking attitude, " but he is also quick to qualify the prestige. "It's not meant to be a badge of honour, but a commitment to action, " he says.

"Fairtrade is a product guarantee that doesn't make any claims about a town or corporation."

But Carlow's business community certainly wants to make that claim. And the desire to raise a positive profile with outsiders helps explain why today, at the end of "Fairtrade Fortnight", Carlow is not alone. Twenty one Irish towns and cities have achieved official recognition as Fairtrade towns and 18 more - including Dublin - are working to fulfill the necessary criteria. Of course, as the Fairtrade halo expands to encompass more towns and cities, its value as a local brand differentiators decreases.

There's more to Carlow's approach than identity marketing, however. The day the town achieved Fairtrade status, the county council also forwarded a funding proposal to Enterprise Ireland seeking support for the development of a Euro50 million bioenergy and industrial biotechnology centre.

With a base of financial support already in place from Teagasc and Carlow IT, and expressions of interest from multinationals in the food, fuel and research sectors, the project aspires to "national ambition", according to county manager Joe Crockett.

"The question was how to generate wealth and position around our existing knowledge infrastructure, considering our history in the sugar industry and our vulnerabilities, there was an obvious capability that could be enhanced, " he says. "It was obvious that bioenergy would be a sunrise sector."

"The centre would be a pilot resource for companies to try out new technologies - it's designed to attract companies not directly involved in bioenergy."

McNabb's explanation for the anticipated business buyin to Carlow's green agenda is non-ideological: "There are two reasons: business keys in because of pressure on costs from environmental regulations and social responsibility now adds value.