Business
Ambassador’s Galway visit underlines benefit of increased co-operation
The British Ambassador paid a surprise visit to a thriving Galway city business that epitomised the ever-evolving trade links between here and the UK.
Ambassador Dominick Chilcott was in Galway for an event in NUIG and wanted to meet some of the interesting companies based in Galway that are working with the UK Trade and Investment Dept (UKTI) – and the British Embassy suggested Meterlogix.
Meterlogix, based at Eyre House in Eyre Square in the heart of Galway, is an energy monitoring and management company which helps businesses reduce their power usage, and so save money.
“I was a bit surprised when the Embassy asked me to meet the Ambassador, but delighted to welcome him to our offices,” admitted Ollie Walsh, Managing Director of Meterlogix.
“Initially I had assumed it would be a quick photo opportunity, but he stayed for an hour and we had a good conversation about opportunities for Irish companies in the UK and UKTI supports available for them.”
Meterlogix has designed an energy monitoring system that is cost effective and sustainable for business today.
They survey, price, install and maintain both web-servers and hardware for the duration of a contract. Their equipment uses a unique protocol that permits connection to existing business networks without any requirement to involve third parties.
They launched their UK office in Sheffield earlier this year and have had several meetings with the Embassy since then.
“Every new company needs support and advice, regardless of the company’s existing experience, and at Meterlogix, we are happy to listen to all the advice offered to us.
“We have had meetings with Galway City and County Enterprise Board, we are a HPSU Client with Enterprise Ireland and have had initial conversations with InterTrade Ireland on setting up in UK and the North, but we have found the UKTI services complement what we are receiving here.
“Enterprise Ireland are helping us with introductions in Britain, UKTI are helping with additional introductions, both organisations let us use their facilities for meetings, so where Enterprise Ireland don’t have an office, we can use UKTI offices. Being able to organise a meeting in either offices lends weight to our business,” said Mr Walsh.
“UKTI is very interested in helping Irish businesses develop and grow. As we see it, our two economies are very closely linked so what is good for the Irish economy is generally good for the UK economy,” added Ambassador Chilcott.
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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