As a result of consultation with our members, Galway Chamber has initiated a new ‘Business Helpline’ for our members who find themselves in business difficulties due to the current economic climate.

As of Wednesday February 3^rd Galway Chamber will have the 1-800-GALWAY (425 929) freefone number activated.

This is a unique, confidential, mentor service for Members.

Any Member who is experiencing business difficulties can call the number, leave his/her contact details. He/she will then be contacted by a dedicated staff member to ascertain the nature of the difficulty. He/she will then be put in touch with a suitable mentor whose expertise lies in that particular area.

This service is both free and confidential.

Q-Park has given 5,000 €1 free vouchers to over 50 retailers and restaurants within walking distance of its two parking facilities in Galway, the Coach Station and the Railway/Radisson. In turn, the businesses will be encouraged to distribute these free vouchers to their customers who wish to avail of the discount. Both car parks are centrally located in Galway’s City Centre.

These vouchers, which have been distributed to retailers and restaurants who are members of Galway Chamber, are designed to attract people for shopping, dining and entertainment.

Paul Shelly, President Galway Chamber welcomes the initiative: “Galway Chamber is in business to make business better for our members. This money saving offer from Q-Park ties in with our objective to encourage more shoppers into the city centre and ultimately boost trade”.

Ray Peers, CEO Q-Park Ireland comments; “We understand that people are now more price conscious, and we are delighted to support the local retailers in order to encourage shoppers. These €1 free vouchers provide our customers with a significant discount. Customers are encouraged to ask local retailers for their €1 free voucher. Window stickers and point of sale have been given to participating retail stores and restaurants to let shoppers know where to avail of the vouchers.”

 “Q-Park goes that extra mile to ensure that customers have a pleasant experience while parking.

They provide a number of free services such as umbrellas on loan for rainy days and comfortable and secure baby buggies to save valuable boot space for shopping, as well as giving customers a jump start when their battery goes flat”, he said.

Last year Galway Chamber kicked off the Christmas Season with our ‘Sp€nd Christmas in Galway’ Campaign mindful of the fact that each penny spent here contributed to local jobs. Our website www.shopgalway.com was upgraded and developed and continued to be marketed aggressively during the year.

Conscious of our members needs for marketing and networking opportunities our Business After Hours was popular and we were hosted during the year by Galway Airport for our Spring Reception, the Westwood House Hotel, Hotel Meyrick on St. Patrick’s Day, Irish Time Design, the Harbour Hotel, FÁS, Connacht Rugby and Browne Thomas (with Cases Wine Warehouse and Hotel Meyrick).

In January Galway Chamber was part of a delegation to Stirling, Scotland at the invitation of Provost of Stirling Councillor Fergus Wood. The visit established links between Galway and lStirling City and County Councils, Galway Chamber and Business, Tourism, Agriculture, Education and Policing in both Galway and Stirling. It is hoped that in 2010 a Stirling Schools Pipe Band will accompany the Provost to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Galway.

When it came to big events this year in Galway, the prize had to go to the Volvo Ocean Race Stopover in June. Galway Chamber was involved in the overall advisory group and we encouraged our members to take part in every way they could. Our President Paul Shelly represented us at the stopovers in both Alicante and in Boston and we even took the unprecedented (we believe!) step of actually having a Council meeting on board the Green Dragon at Galway Docks. The event was a wonderful example of what Galway can do on the world stage and in the late May/early June sunshine Galway was justifiably proud.

Our 2009 series of Business lunches began in January with guest speaker Richard Bruton TD in the Hotel Meyrick. We hosted Professor Niamh Brennan, Michael McCormack Professor of Management in UCD in the Radisson Blu, sponsored by H~C Financial Services and in June on the first day of the Volvo stopover Dragon’s Den Bobby Kerr, sponsored by the Galway Independent address a crowd of over 240 in the corporate hospitality tent at the race village. In September Peninsula sponsored a seminar to address challenges faced by business and in November KPMG gave a seminar on R&D tax credits.

Also in June Galway Chamber held our Business Awards 2009 in association with Vhi Healthcare, presented at the Galway Chamber President’s Dinner in the Galway Bay Hotel. Individual Categories: Enterprise & Innovation sponsored by RDJ Glynn was won by IRadio; Customer Service sponsored by Galway Airport was won by Glenlo Abbey; Arts/Culture/Sport sponsored by Failte Ireland was won by Galway Arts Centre; Environment sponsored by Galway City Council was won by Thermo King; Small and Medium Enterprises sponsored by Galway City Tribune was won by Lynx Transport & Logistics; Marketing sponsored by Discover Galway was won by Galway Airport; eBusiness sponsored by the Galway Technology Centre was won by Anthony Ryan’s Homestore and Corporate Social Responsibility sponsored by the Irish Greyhound Board was won by Boston Scientific. The over all winner of the Galway Chamber Business Award 2009 in association with our main Sponsors Vhi Healthcare was Lynx Transport and Logistics, a very worthy and well deserved winner. 

Eircom sponsored the Chamber’s Presidents Prize Golf in May which was won by Ger Colleran with runner up Michael Coyle. We held the 14^th Annual Chamber Golf Classic sponsored by Zurich at Galway Golf Club and the winners were the Marsh Ireland team with the Tesco team as runners up.

This was, of course, a year of Local Elections when we lobbied each political candidate on the business case. We issued each one with a document and a foreword by President Paul Shelly: ‘In the Local Elections of 2004 Galway Chamber, as a result of an in-depth consultative process with members, sent an Election Manifesto to the candidates. The issues have not changed and in most cases progress is minimal, The following document gives you the 2004 priority issues, the  progress and what the business community now needs in 2009 and going forward’. www.galwaychamber.com

The Board of Galway Chamber voted to support the Lisbon Treaty at its July meeting and played a full part in the campaign in the run up to Election day as well as distribution material on the matter to members. Also distributed to members were details on any ‘Flu Pandemic’ with checklists and advice on business continuity planning in the eventuality of a national influenza pandemic. Members were also alerted to the fact that in August Galway Chamber was the first Chamber to go live with our own news service on our website. This news bulletin informs our members and wider business community of our lobbying issues on an ongoing basis.

In terms of Lobbying and Representation this year has seen Galway Chamber publish documents on the following issues of concern to Members: Local Election Manifesto 2009;Commercial Rates Submission to Galway City Council and Galway County Council (document also submitted to each member of Galway City and Galway County Councils individually); Galway Chamber also met with each political grouping on Galway City Council prior to the Estimates meeting; Pre-Budget Submission to Government: An Taoiseach and Minister for Finance

Galway Chamber has continued to provide training opportunities to local businesses with the support of Chamber Business School FAS funding. 45 participants completed training in Masterful Selling, Time Management, How to Get Paid and Marketing.

This EU backed Business Support unit within Galway Chamber, the Enterprise Europe Network has been extremely active in assisting a number of local enterprises identify new business opportunities in overseas markets including the participation of 8 local businesses in the Cross Border initiative with Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce,  Network and Getwork. In addition, the centre organised a week long series of workshops for businesses to coincide with SME Week 2009. Each workshop was delivered by a chamber member company and focussed on themes of importance to small business such as sourcing funding for business, health and safety, online marketing, governance and regulation. The centre also met with a number of representatives from the foreign embassies in Ireland and facilitated meetings between local businesses and the commercial advisors for the embassies.

The Ambassadors for Female Entrepreneurship in partnership with Dublin and Cork Chambers was also launched. The Ambassadors are role models for other females and aim to encourage more women to consider starting their own business. Three Galway business women have been appointed to the panel of 10. These include: Audrey Kinahan - University Late Night Pharmacy, Judy Greene - Judy Greene Pottery and Liz Cassidy - Irish Time Design.

The Galway Chamber Traffic and Transportation Forum moved apace this year with a major initiative called ‘Bus it, Bike it, Walk it’ launched to coincide with the return to school in September. The initiative included a media awareness and poster campaign aimed at encouraging schoolchildren and their parents to choose alternative modes of transport to the car wherever possible.

Galway Chamber issued Press Releases and provided Media comment to local radio, RTE, TV3 News, TG4, RnaG, Local Press and national press on such issues as the Volvo Stopover, Commercial Rates, Economic Downturn, Employment numbers,  Litter, Anti-Social behaviour, Infrastructure including Roads, Rail, Air, Energy, Broadband, Tourism, Traffic, NAMA and Business Costs ie Commercial and Water Rates.

We engaged extensively with the Business Support Agencies – Enterprise Ireland, the IDA, the Galway County and City Enterprise Board, WESTBIC, ITAG, FAS, the American Chambers, the IHF, Failte Ireland West and the 3rd Level sector. We also hosted their excellencies the Kenyan, Swiss, German, Indian, Nigerian, Korean and Chinese ambassadors as well as various visiting business delegations to Galway.

In 2009 Galway Chamber met regularly with Local Government (Galway City and County Councils) politicians (City and County Mayors and City and County Councillors) and City Officials and Senior Staff. The purpose of these meetings varied, however at all times Galway

Chamber articulated the views of its Members on the issues under discussion. These issues included: Water, Commercial Rates, Traffic Problems, Planning and Litter/Waste Management and environmental issues. While all of the above issues are important, the economic downturn was the most significant and Commercial Rates were high on the Agenda and we welcomed Galway City Council’s freezing of Commercial Rates for next year. At time of writing Galway County Council have yet to hold its estimates meeting.

In addition to the contacts with Local Government, the Chamber also held meetings with An Taoiseach, An Tanaiste, Government Ministers and their Officials, TDs in the Galway Constituencies and Senators. We also met with MEPs in the Connaught/Ulster Constituency, EU Politicians and Officials. Issues discussed at these meetings included: the infrastructure deficit in Galway and the West Region, the need for more balanced Regional Development, Broadband and Funding for Local Government and its impact on Commercial Rates.

We continued to lobby as part of the inter-agency group on two specific priorities; the Galway City Outer Bypass (GCOB) and the N18 Road to Shannon/Limerick The bodies involved in this Task Force include IBEC West Region, the Irish Hotels Federation West Region, the American Chambers of Commerce West Region and the Information Technology Association of Galway (ITAG). We welcome the opening of the N6 Ballinasloe/Galway but it is still our belief that this is not complete without the Galway City Outer Bypass and it will continue to be on our lobbying agenda.

Understanding the current difficult climate for business, Galway Chamber this year decided to reduce our membership subscriptions by 5%. We know that our members are working very hard to weather the downturn and we will continue to do everything in our power to make this journey easier.

We have had had a busy and productive year working on behalf of our members. This work will continue during the Presidency of Paul Shelly in the coming year and we will endeavour at all times to make Galway the leading location for business, investment and people.

The Galway Chamber Team

Michael Coyle
Maeve Joyce
Mary Murphy
Carol Brady
Elaine Murphy.

According to research conducted by the Equality Authority, investment by businesses in initiatives that promote workplace equality and foster diversity has substantial benefits for both employees and employers. Following on from our recent Breakfast Briefing on this subject, and our subsequent interviews with a selection of Galway organisations, we are pleased to make available to businesses, a snap shot of some of the existing cases of best practice in managing diverse workplaces here in Galway.

This booklet forms a supplement to the Galway Intercultural Toolkit for the Workplace which was developed by Galway City Partnership.

We wish to extend our thanks to all the companies that participated at the briefing event, the case study interviews and survey questionnaires. I wish also to acknowledge the work of Galway City Partnership in supporting this project.  

This work has been completed as part of an EU project funded under the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All Legacy Programme and forms part of Galway Chamber’s commitment to Galway City Anti-Racism Strategy “Towards a City of Equals”.

Galway Intercultural Toolkit for the Workplace Download

Managing a Diverse Workplace - case studies and best practices from Galway businesses. Download

Liz Cassidy, Irish Time Design and Judy Greene of Judy Greene Pottery with President of Galway Chamber Paul Shelly recently attended the launch of the European Network of Female Entrepreneurship Ambassadors. The Ambassadors programme is an initiative of the European Commission to highlight and promote women entrepreneurs as a key to economic growth and job creation. The event was held in the company of H.R.H. Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, at a gala dinner in Stockholm City Hall where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is held annually. 

The Female Ambassadors and female entrepreneurship was applauded and celebrated at the gala event attended by 650 European Ministers and dignitaries from across Europe as well as Her Royal Highness and her entourage. The Inauguration of the Female Entrepreneurship Ambassador Programme was addressed by Maud Olofsson, Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister of Enterprise, Energy and Communications and was officially launched by Vladimír Spidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.

Liz Cassidy and Judy Greene were selected by Galway Chamber of Commerce, together with Audrey Kinahan, University Pharmacy, as individuals who have excelled in their area of business and who are role models to women in business, to represent the Western region as Female Entrepreneurship Ambassadors.

Galway Chamber’s Traffic and Transport Forum under the Chairmanship of Dr Chris Coughlan, met for the second full forum meeting in the Boardroom, GMIT on Thursday 4th December.

Attending the meeting were representatives of Galway Chamber, GLUAS, Garda Siochana, Galway City Council Executive, Iarnrod Eireann, NUIGalway, GMIT, Galway Cycling, An Taisce, Galway Trades Council, Rural Taxi Alliance and City Direct Bus.Speaking after the meeting Dr. Coughlan said that progress was again made and that the feedback sessions were invaluable to the members of the Forum:

‘Deputy Frank Fahey, Chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Traffic took time from his schedule to join us at the meeting and spoke and answered questions on areas as diverse as school transport and possibility of park and rides each side of the city on an ongoing basis.

‘Director of Services in Galway City Council Ciaran Hayes updated us on the workings of the Traffic and Transportation Unit, now up and running in City Council and he outlined how some of the ‘achievable’ wishes of the forum are coming to fruition, ie smart traffic lights, automated messaging boards for parking spaces, permanent park and rides, bicycle parks and bus shelters.

‘We had a presentation from the GLUAS group and an update on their plans and progress.

‘We had a report from our Education Sub Committee on a survey carried out re: the specific issue of traffic as a result of school journeys and to ascertain students attitude to school bus transport. This gave us a very real insight into some ways to move forward on this, which is a real problem when it comes to traffic in the city.

‘Galway Chamber updated the Forum on plans for a major conference with a national focus on the whole area of traffic and transportation for Spring.

“Finally I would like to say that now, due to the confusion and the delay of the outer city bypass, the work of the Forum is even of greater importance to the City in bringing together the work of all interested bodies in the single goal of achieving a practical and working integrated traffic and transportation solutions in the short

medium and long term. The 2nd Forum has brought us a little bit further in realizing this’, Dr. Coughlan concluded.

The work of the Forum before its next gathering in the Spring will include the setting up of an Industrial Sub Committee to look at the transportation of large numbers of employees and the traffic issues involved.

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Please find below link to the powerpoint presentations from the first meeting of the Galway Chamber Traffic & Transportation Forum

GLUAS - Lighty Rail for Galway Part 1  Part 2
Brendan Holland & Jerry McSweeney, GLUAS

Towards a sustainable and cycle-friendly Galway Part 1  Part 2
Simon Comer, PRO, Galway Cycling Camapign

A sustainable and Integrated Transport Policy for Galway City Part 1
Brendan Smith, Galway City Community Forum

Mobility Management  v.  Parking
Keith Warnock, Vice-President for Physical Resources, NUIG
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Chairman Dr. Chris Coughlan: ‘Forum will bring together all stakeholders and interest groups to deal with immediate traffic problems and to implement a vision for the future’.

The Galway Chamber Traffic and Transportation was set up to bring together all the stakeholders and interest groups to deal with immediate traffic problems and to implement a vision for the future
The group meets for the first time in GMIT on Tuesday May 20 to present to each other and to discuss areas of commonality and difference regarding Galway’s traffic and transportation needs, both immediate and into the future.
Chairman of the Forum, Dr. Chris Coughlan, has

I have now had meetings with all of the stakeholders individually and the next step is to gather all of these stakeholders together to share an interactive session so that we understand each others plans and aspirations.

To this end I invite you and one other representative from your group or organization to attend and give a short presentation (limited to ten minutes, powerpoint available) to the Forum on your organisation’s issues around traffic and transportation.

 This will take place in The Boardroom, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Dublin Road, Galway on Tuesday May 20 2008 at 5.30 pm until approx. 7 p.m.

Please contact Maeve Joyce at Galway Chamber on 091 535023 to indicate your attendance.

 What we will try to achieve:

• To develop a common understanding between each… what each does, is planning and aspires to
• To identify what is the common ground and elements of agreement and to work through the differences and gaps
• To form a united single group in positively articulating, lobbying, supporting, assisting and monitoring what is required from Galway City Council, Galway City Transport Office (welcomed by the Forum) and Government in serving and solving the traffic and transportation needs of Galway from now to 2030

 The Traffic and Transportation Forum will work with all the stakeholders in Galway to do the following:

In the short term:

• Identify and implement intermediate relief solutions for immediate traffic problems

In the medium term:

• Put in place specific strategic solutions in short to medium committed timescales

In the long term:

• Develop a vision from now to 2030 for transportation (incl. sea and air) in Galway that forms not only the revival but a promotional backbone for Galway business, tourism, culture, social and community all in an iconic and leadership context

 Organisations invited to attend this meeting:

• Galway City Council (including Transportation Unit)
• Galway Cyclists
• Galway City Community Forum
• Galway Taxis
• Galway Harbour Company
• Iarnrod Eireann
• Bus Eireann
• Galway Trades Council
• An Taisce
• Garda Siochana
• Galway City Business Association
• GLUAS
• Galway Airport
• Schools Representative
• NUIG
• GMIT

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