Kilkenny Chamber held its Annual General Meeting via Zoom on Thursday 22nd April. Below is the address which President Colin Ahern, General Manager of Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, made to the attendees.
I’d like to offer a very warm welcome to you all, for our 2021 Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce AGM, our second such AGM to be held online. Meeting in person again, at such an event and having lovely food, in a comfortable and welcoming setting, is not far away hopefully but this AGM has come a little too soon for that.
It has certainly been a very strange 10 months since I took over the position of President of the Chamber at our delayed AGM last June. Looking back at my introduction that day, it’s safe to say that I underestimated the extent and length of time the effects of this Pandemic would have on our businesses and wider community. I spoke about how most of us would be delighted to see the back of 2020 and that 2021 would be our year of recovery. This has been the case for some but not all yet, I’m afraid. Indeed we have seen many businesses in the Retail sector around the country permanently closed and last month Failte Ireland published research suggesting that it could be 2025 before our tourism industry recovers to 2019 levels.
What struck me most about the last 14 months, ……. read more at President’s Speech Kilkenny Chamber AGM 22nd April 2021.