Business
Boston Scientific among top prize winners at national awards
The commitment of one of Galway’s biggest employers to recycling, energy and waste management was recognised at a prestigious awards night in Dublin last week.
Boston Scientific Galway were amongst the winners at the inaugural Pakman Awards – formerly the Repak Member of the Year Awards – at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin on Thursday night as they were crowned winners of the Environmental Education and Awareness Initiative of the year award.
Boston Scientific Galway has always been committed to environmental education and awareness. Since 2000, their site in Galway with 2600 employees – a small town, formalized their commitment when certification to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System was achieved.
The journey they undertook resulted in the reduction of waste generation by 34% and increase waste recycling to 80%.
They achieved this by an easy replicated programme for their employees and continuous training of all employees on sustainable waste management.
The aim was to encourage their employees to take action today both at the workplace and in the home, to reduce, reuse and recycle waste so that in the future their grandchildren can work and play in a green world of their own.
Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly led the congratulations along with 300 representatives from leading businesses, organisations and community groups.
“The Pakman awards are an excellent example of organisations in the recycling and waste management industry coming together with a common purpose to highlight and reward best practice initiatives and excellence across a number of waste streams,” he said.
The Pakman award, which has replaced the Repak Member of the year award, seeks to recognise complete excellence in the environmental approach taken by a business, organisation or community group in all aspects of their operations.
Repak is this year celebrating 18 years of packaging recycling success in Ireland. This is founded on the consistent commitment of its 2120 members, who are now responsible for funding the recycling of 800,000 of packaging, which they place on the market, ensuring consumers are now recycling more than ever before.
Irish businesses have invested over 350 million through Repak in ensuring that their packaging does not go to waste.
The new President of Local Ireland, the association representing local news publishers around the country, is Head of Irish Times Regionals Dan Linehan.
Mr Linehan takes over the presidency from Declan McGuire of the Connacht Tribune. His appointment was confirmed at the recent Annual General Meeting of Local Ireland at Bloomfield House Hotel near Mullingar, Westmeath.
Mr Linehan, who has served as Vice President of the organisation for the last two years, said: “The coming years are a very important time for local publishers with many important issues to be addressed, including the implementation of the Future of Media Commission recommendations, defamation reform, the role and support for local publishers in public service reporting and helping publishers develop commercial digital offerings.”
Speaking at the AGM, Mr McGuire acknowledged the work done by the Executive in the past two years under the direction of Executive Director, Bob Hughes, on several projects related to the publishing industry but most especially the successful conclusion of the long-running campaign for the abolition of VAT on newspapers.
He also wished Mr Linehan the very best in his new role as President of the association for the next two years.
Mr Hughes thanked Mr McGuire for his leadership and support during his term of office and said he looked forward to working with Mr Linehan on the key policy priorities for the association, including Government supports, Government advertising, fair remuneration for content from the tech platforms and the reform of the legislation for defamation.
Local Ireland members also elected Seán Mahon, Managing Director of the Southern Star, as Vice President for the next two years.
The shortage of affordable housing is the single biggest impediment in attracting and retaining workers in the West, according to business group Ibec.
At a ‘Regional Insights Series’ meeting in the Galmont Hotel in Galway last week, employers were told that capacity constraints and labour supply are the key challenges facing business growth in the region.
Ibec Head of Regional Policy Helen Leahy said: “There must be greater focus by government on enhancing quality of life issues such as housing and infrastructure which are driving labour shortages in the region.
“Ibec’s vision for the West is to realise its potential to become a globally competitive location. An inadequate supply of affordable housing is now the single largest impediment to attracting and retaining talented workers, without whom business investment and expansions are not possible.
“Labour shortages are a real concern for businesses in the region. People decide where to live and work based on quality of life and access to high quality services and amenities. Industry tends to follow talent, and in this regard, the region needs to have all the building blocks in place as the attraction and retention of world-class talent becomes increasingly competitive on a global level,” said Ms Leahy.
Amongst Ibec’s priorities for the West are:
- Addressing housing and infrastructure challenges
- Transitioning towards a new growth model with Net Zero energy powered by Atlantic offshore wind resources
- Adapting businesses to the new economic realities
- Enhancing capacity and skillsets to achieve sustainable development objectives
- Investment in people and skills
- Creating competitive advantage through digitalisation
- Innovation as a key driver of productivity growth
One in five Galway businesses want to go fully cashless, as the move towards card payments and tapping continues unabated post-Covid.
In all, 22% of Galway businesses would like to be fully cashless, according to a survey carried out by BOI Payment Acceptance (BOIPA), a provider of payment technology solutions, which asked Irish businesses about the current payment landscape as well as business confidence and concerns.
Over one-third (36%) of Galway businesses were unaware there is no contactless limit on mobile wallets – just below the national average – while 54% believe the increase in card over cash transactions has helped them run their business.
Six out of ten Galway businesses expect to grow this year despite the cost-of-living crisis and running costs dominating as key concerns; 62% believe their business will grow over the next twelve months despite global economic uncertainty.
Unsurprisingly cost-of-living increases and running costs were the main concerns the majority of businesses had.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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