The concept of ethical shopping has been developing slowly but unspectacularly in Ireland over the past 20 years. With the notable exception of the boycott of South African produce over a decade ago, Irish consumers have rarely wielded their power to effect change in the way in which goods are produced in developing countries.

However, a newly formed campaign group says it hopes to change this through the promotion of a code of practice for supermarket chains, which would ensure their own-brand products complied with minimum ethical standards.

"We don't think of supermarkets as evil," says Mr Liam Wegimont, co-ordinator of the Off Your Trolley campaign which, is supported by a number of development agencies. "We are trying to work with them as they are very often unaware of the conditions under which their own products are made. We also want to make them aware of the potential of fair-trade produce."

Representatives of the main Irish supermarket chains are expected to meet next month with a view to drawing up a common code on own-brand goods. It would commit them to paying wages at least in line with legal minima and ensuring working conditions at factories where their own-brand products are made comply with internationally-recognised standards.

Initial reactions from the industry have been positive. A spokesman for Tesco says it has a well-established policy on ethical trading in Britain and would look upon such a code "favourably".

Superquinn has agreed in principal to the code, although it admits own-brand sales account for only a small proportion of its business. However, it has also responded positively to a demand to stock more fair-trade products, namely those which are imported directly from co-operatives in developing countries and thus ensure higher wages for workers.

Senator Feargal Quinn, owner of Superquinn, acknowledges there is a "growing concern" among consumers about ethical trading. The issue has been raised consistently at recent management meetings with customers, he says.

"Clearly, there is the beginning of a movement, but it is still only a beginning. Customers have not yet shown any change in their behaviour."

A number of fair-trade products have already been launched on the Irish market with limited success. The biggest seller, Cafedirect, has secured less than 1 per cent of the retail coffee market.

But campaigners say demand for fair-trade goods would increase considerably if consumers had greater access to them through supermarkets and local stores. They point to the success of retail chains like The Body Shop, which has built up a large customer base through its stance against animal testing.

The closest thing to such a chain in fair-trade goods is Oxfam, which has 33 shops in Ireland and a projected turnover for this year of £850,000.

Ms Maeve McNamara, district retail manager with Oxfam, says there is a growing demand "for food products particularly. But if they are to be successful in supermarkets they need to be promoted together in a fair-trade area, like you would have a health area or a vegan area separated in shops. A fair-trade coffee would be lost sitting beside Nescafe".

Ms Shirelle Stewart, head of the Association of Fair-Trade Shops in Ireland, said "consumers who demanded environmentallyfriendly products are now turning to people-friendly products. It has really taken off, especially over the last year".

Turnover at the association's flagship store in Belfast increased from £48,000 in 1996 to an estimated £68,000 this year.

Essential to increasing demand for such goods are awareness campaigns, such as that launched recently on Christmas toys by Trocaire and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

The campaign cites wages of less than 60p, the use of child labour and forced overtime of up to 10 hours a day in some Asian toy factories. It calls on consumers to ask the managers of Irish toy shops to put pressure on their suppliers to ensure factories meet minimum standards and are independently monitored.

Ms Caoimhe de Barra of Trocaire says the power of consumers has been underestimated. "They have a great influence but, by and large, they haven't used it. Ireland is still quite a long way behind other countries in relation to codes of conduct and ethical trading."

She cites a recent EU survey, which shows 74 per cent of people would buy fair-trade products instead of standard products if they were available, as cause for optimism.

However, Senator Quinn warns supermarket chains would have to see quick results if the fair-trade products were to stay on the shelves. "If you manage to convince supermarkets to make space for them and they don't sell then you're going to have a very hard time persuading them six months down the road even though the demand might be there."

Mr Wegimont is confident that problem will not arise. "There are growing trends towards fair-trade goods in other European markets, which indicate we are likely to see a groundswell of opinion calling for change. If the supermarkets react early it would be in their own best interests."