Balbriggan Chamber of Commerce and the Bracken Court Hotel pulled out all the stops last Friday morning 26th November to support and encourage all local people in business or even thinking about getting in to business in the future. President of the Chamber struck a very Green note by emphasising the indigenous potential of the Fingal area as ‘the Kitchen Garden of Ireland’. There was more to this tack than job potential, there was also a necessity globally for an increase in levels of food production to feed a growing population worldwide. The recent Balbriggan Food Festival showed the potential of this focus on food in Fingal.
Oisín Geoghegan, CEO, Fingal County Enterprise Board speaking at the Conference
County Manager, David O’Connor, gave an excellent overview of the role the Council has in providing services for businesses which in turn pay the essential rates to the local authority. To cut costs, the Council has reduced staff numbers from 37,000 in 2008 to 31,000 in 2009, and the rate in the pound had gone down 10%, he said.
He explained how the Council had championed Metro North and his plan was that it will in time go to Lissenhall and on to the Northern Line in due course. 75% of the island’s business is done along the Dublin – Belfast corridor, he said.Mr O’Connor also expected a proposal to build a port, not at Bremore, but off East Meath. However Balbriggan as the largest nearby town will benefit economically.
We were all delighted to hear him announce the appointment of Ms Celine O’Rourke as the town architect for Balbriggan. The historic and coastal aspects of Balbriggan will greatly benefit from a cohesive and professional approach.
Ann Marie Farrelly of the FCC Economic Development Department then made an excellent presentation. Balbriggan now has 7,500 homes and 18,000 residents. Workforce numbers are 7,900. 34.6% of the workforce work in Dublin, 32% work elsewhere in Fingal. The live register in February 2010 in Balbriggan stood at 1,941.
At the conference with Trevor was local Green Party organiser, Frank Duffy (left)
In surveys, businesses cite labour as the biggest cost understandably. It was encouraging to learn that 64% of Balbriggan businesses expect their customer base to increase, 20% expect to take on more staff and 56% expect to maintain current staff numbers.
The BEAT Enterprise Centre is fully occupied with 22 units and 70 full-time jobs, while Fingal Bay Business Park has key employers like Bridgestone and the Passport Office. There has been a greater level of enquiries about other Industrial Lands in the last 3 months that in many months previously.
The award winning website www.fingalworks.ie is worth a look for prospective employers and employees alike.
Mr Oisín Geoghegan, the CEO of the Fingal County Enterprise Board spoke about how the CEB can help people starting a business. Over 90% of Irish businesses are micro businesses, that is the have less than 10 staff members.
The CEB which is located at 23 Main Street, Swords, provides 1. a mentor programme, 2. business information seminars, 3. finance and 4. a start your own business programme. Demand for this programme has doubled in the last year.
The next Fingal Enterprise Week is due in September 2011, but in the meantime, it is worth looking at: www.fingaldirectory.ie, www.fingalenterprise.ie and www.fingalceb.ie .
To help us benchmark progress in reaching our potential for tourism etc, the former Cork County Architect, Mr Billy Houlihan, spoke about the transformations of Kinsale and Clonakilty. This dove-tailed well with the Public Realm Consultants LOCI who gave a progress report on their work in Balbriggan with the Town Council under the Cathaoirleach, Cllr Frank Snowe.
Ms Zoe Nelson of the Chamber who along with Fiona, did enormous work behind the scenes to make the Conference so successful, presented a survey proposal to assess the potential for a local currency to stimulate local business and retain as much spending power as possible in the area.
I spoke to strongly support this idea which works well elsewhere alongside the Euro and is directly interchangeable with the Euro. Many other good ideas were proposed and Zoe (who writes fast!) took them all down on a flip chart. This resulted in Working Groups being formed to deliver plans for 1. Local Energy Strategy, 2. a Cultural Facility, 3. a National Fisheries Museum, 4. a Youth Facility, 5. a Local History Museum.
I then went outside to support the local Fish and Farmers’ Market in the Square, which was highly complemented by the Chamber President and others including myself at the Conference for bringing more people in to shop and socialise in the centre of Balbriggan which helped all businesses, not just the stallholder producers.
