Chamber Chat:   The Everything Emergency

Join us in the spectacular St. Canice’s Cathedral on Wednesday 26th March at 6pm when we will be joined by Climate Campaigner John Gibbons.  John will provide us with a sobering warning on the future of the planet and how Climate Change is already affecting our daily lives.

This is a FREE event but you must register at admin@kilkennychamber.ie    We are grateful to St. Canice’s Cathedral for hosting this event as part of the Museum of the Moon exhibition.

Based in Dublin, Kilkennyman John Gibbons has been writing and campaigning around the climate emergency for the last decade and a half. This included a three year stint as environmental columnist with the Irish Times.

He is founder of the website Climatechange.ie and he also maintains a long-running environmental blog at ThinkOrSwim.ie. He is a regular contributor to national media on climate and environmental issues, and has been a weekly columnist on The Last Word on TodayFM for the last four years. He had over 45,000 followers on Twitter/X, but has shut down his account and moved to BlueSky, where he now has nearly 13,000 followers. John is currently working on a book on the climate emergency that is due to be published later this year.

Apart from his campaigning work, he is also co-founder and director of a Dun Laoghaire-based healthcare publishing company and creative agency.

Joining us too will the Lady Desart Choir, for a special performance.

Fortify SME Business Breakfast: Cyber, Physical, Systems & Fraud Protection

Date: Thursday, 6th March 2025

Time: 7:30 AM – 9:30 AM

Location: Seven Oaks Hotel , Athy Road , Carlow

MC: Joanne Sweeney

Overview:

Join us for the Fortify SME Business Breakfast, an essential event designed to equip small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with the tools and strategies needed to safeguard their businesses against modern security threats.

Brought to you by the County Carlow Chamber of Commerce, Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce, Kilkenny & Carlow County Councils – Local Enterprise Offices, and supported by the Enterprise Europe Network, this event provides a platform to learn from leading experts and share knowledge on building a resilient business.

In an era of increasing interconnectedness, SMEs face risks ranging from cyberattacks and physical breaches to system vulnerabilities and fraudulent schemes. This event will offer actionable insights into mitigating these risks, with presentations and discussions covering:

• Strengthening your digital infrastructure against cyber threats.
• Enhancing physical security to protect premises and assets.
• Safeguarding business systems for uninterrupted operations.
• Detecting and preventing fraud to secure financial health.

Agenda:

7:30 AM – Networking Breakfast

Start your day with a light breakfast and the opportunity to connect with fellow SMEs and industry professionals.

8:00 AM – Welcome & Opening Remarks

Kieran Comerford – Head of Economic Development & Enterprise

Kieran Comerford will highlight the importance of comprehensive security strategies for SMEs and share insights on the support available through the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN).

8:05 AM – Presentation: The Role of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau (GNCCB)

Sergeant Eoin O’Connell – GNCCB, An Garda Síochána

Gain valuable insights into the current cyber threat landscape and learn practical safety tips to protect your business and employees.

8:25 AM – Presentation: Fraud Protection in Financial Transactions

Grace Murphy / Emily Gough – Bank of Ireland

Learn how to detect and mitigate financial fraud risks from one of Ireland’s leading banking experts.

8:40 AM – Presentation: Strengthening Your Cybersecurity Framework

Stephen Burke from Security Risk Advisors on how to Discover effective strategies to secure your digital assets and reduce vulnerability to cyber threats.

8:50 AM – Expert Insights: Enhancing Security for SMEs

Colin Hayes, Netwatch

Gain actionable advice tailored to the unique needs of SMEs in safeguarding their operations.

9:00 AM – Expert Insights: Best Practices in Systems Protection

Tom Walshe, Head of Cloud and Security Services, BITS.IE – Business IT Solutions

Explore practical approaches to fortify your business systems against potential breaches.

9:10 AM – Panel Discussion: Building a Resilient SME Community

Engage with our panel of experts as they discuss key challenges, share insights, and answer questions about protecting your business from various threats.

9:25 AM – Closing Remarks – Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce

Register for this FREE event at admin@kilkennychamber.ie 

February’s Chamber Chat takes us to the Pink Box Artisan Bakery on Parliament Street, on Thursday 27th February from 6 pm to 7 pm.

Tracie Daly brings her wealth of experience in and with the Food Industry to our Chamber Chat this month – what she has to offer are useful tools for all industries and businesses.

Join us at the beautiful Pink Box Artisan Bakery on Parliament Street and meet Ricardo and Adriana who create magnificent savoury and sweet delights.

Tracie is a passionate award-winning entrepreneur, qualified executive business coach, and chef, who helps hospitality business owners to unlock their full potential – increasing sales, reducing costs, and improving their operations overall.

With a wealth of knowledge and industry experience in the Food and Education sectors, her advice and problem-solving skills are very much based on regular everyday food service and hospitality queries and dilemmas.

Having chosen to specialise in working with SMEs in the casual dining space, she designs and executes bespoke food business models and empowers owners to transform their businesses, ensuring long-term sustainable growth. Adept at streamlining operational processes to increase business efficiencies and with an innovative approach to recipe testing and menu development that results in measurable business improvements, working directly with Tracie has already helped so many food business owners right across the country to minimise risk.

Email admin@kilkennychamber.ie to register.

It was standing room only in Statham’s in the Pembroke Hotel last Wednesday when the Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce announced the launch of the Kilkenny Business Awards 2024

Chamber President Anne Barber welcomed everyone and made special reference to Vhi Healthcare who are the new Main Sponsor of the most prestigious event in the Business calendar.  She outlined several new features for this year’s Awards programme including the new Logo and Branding which was designed by Simon O’Dwyer and the team at Threesixty Marketing. She pointed out the 6 new categories and encouraged everyone to begin nominating businesses they know.

• Age Friendly Business of the Year
• Café, Bar or Restaurant of the Year
• Hotel & Accommodation Providers of the Year
• Night Time Experience Award
• Rural Tourism Award
• Salon of the Year

Therese Bourke said that Vhi Healthcare is delighted to support this year’s Awards. She said that the company has embedded itself in Kilkenny since it came to the city in 2000 and now employs over 650 people.  Kilkenny Chamber and its flagship event the annual Kilkenny Business Awards are a good fit for Vhi Healthcare, and she looks forward engaging with the process.

Auto-Enrolment for pensions will be mandatory from 1st January next, and the Chamber has teamed up with Cleere Life to find out more about this topic.

Venue:  Pembroke Hotel Kilkenny. 

Time:  12.45 pm – 2.00 pm

To register for this free event, please email admin@kilkennychamber.ie

Lunch will be provided, so booking is essential. 

The Annual General Meeting of Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce and Industry CLG will take place at Butler House, Kilkenny, on Thursday 25th April at 12.30 pm.

The current President of the Chamber’s (Brian Keyes) term of office will come to an end, and a new President will be elected for the coming two years.

All members and their guests are welcome to attend, and you can pre-register by emailing admin@kilkennychamber.ie

PwC and Kilkenny Chamber were delighted to partner to bring this presentation on Upcoming Changes to Modernise VAT event on 11 April 2024.

The event focused on the key areas of focus forming part of the ViDA proposals which businesses need to start considering and planning for. Particular areas of focus included:

• E-invoicing – domestic & cross border
• Digital Reporting Requirements
• Single EU VAT registration

Sharing their views on ViDA and answering your questions on the day were

• Brian Hogan, Director PwC
• Eugen Trombitas, Managing Director PwC

Click on: Slides PwC – VAT in a Digital Age (VIDA) – April 2024 for a copy of the slides which were used in the presentation

February’s Chamber Chat takes place on Thursday 29th February at 6pm at UPMC Nowlan Park, home of the GAA in Kilkenny.  Our guest speaker will be David Beirne, Senior Vice-President, UPMC International.

To register for a place at this event, please email admin@kilkennychamber.ie

Join us for our first Chamber Chat of 2024 at the new State Street offices in Loughboy for a guided tour of their eco-friendly building, home to their established cybersecurity hub. 

Kilkenny Chamber hosts annual Golf Outing in glorious sunshine at Mount Juliet

The weather gods certainly smiled kindly on Kilkenny Chamber’s latest event which was their annual Golf Challenge at the splendid Mount Juliet Golf Course last Wednesday. In wonderful sunshine, over 100 players in 28 teams representing a host of Kilkenny businesses and their clients took to the course which was in world class condition.

First prize went to the team from EY, with TransferMate coming in second, followed by Carne Group in third place.

This year, a fourth prize was awarded, which went to Evans Mockler, a British team which travelled with the British Irish Trading Alliance.

The event also facilitated unique networking opportunities and saw some eight teams fielded under the BITA (British Irish Trading Alliance) banner. Chamber CEO John Hurley pointed out that “People like doing business with people they know and by bringing 100 businesspeople together in this way, the consequent effect on business relationships is tremendous. Throughout the day, business leaders chatted with each other about how they could work together to their mutual benefit and many new connections were developed.”

“A Behind the Scenes look at how to build a global brand”

It was standing room only once again at the Kilkenny Chamber Chat held last week in the Cartoon Saloon Studio in Barrack Street. The story of how three young art students with a passion for animation, Nora Twomey, Tomm Moore and Paul Young,  went from small beginnings to being known worldwide was told at the well-attended event.  Today they are celebrated for a series of films from “The Story of Kells” to “Wolfwalkers” and “The Song of the Sea” that have won them a cabinet full of prestigious awards. A panel discussion was chaired by John Hurley, CEO of Kilkenny Chamber.

Nora Twomey talked about the importance of seed money in their early days and Cian McElhone of Screen Ireland talked about how this helps companies to grow and the massive impact this has on local economies in later years. Cartoon Saloon have spent twenty years working hard to successfully combine art and business and are now a large employer in Kilkenny with up to 200 employees working on projects at various stages of production. Key to their growth according to Nora was maintaining a “tricycle approach.”   Film making is an industry where you may need to change direction quickly and you have to stay flexible.

Many business representatives in the audience commented on the beneficial  impact the employees of Cartoon Saloon had on other businesses. To finish Nora outlined some of the many productions in development, all of which will be based primarily in Kilkenny.

Join us for May’s Chamber Chat at the Cartoon Saloon studio on Barrack Street (R95 WK60) on Thursday 18th May!

Cartoon Saloon’s achievements are known around the world, and now is our opportunity to find out how the business works – what does it take to create a global brand?

Chamber Chats are free to members, and guests are welcome to attend. However, you must register for your place by emailing admin@kilkennychamber.ie

Refreshments are served from 5.30 when there’s also an opportunity to check out the Wolfwalkers Exhibition on display.

Kilkenny Chamber held its 75^th Annual General Meeting at the Pembroke Hotel Kilkenny recently.  President Brian Keyes was re-elected for a second year in office, and Vice President Anne Barber was also re-elected.

The following officers were elected:  Owen Sweeney, Hon. Secretary, Gordon Murphy, Hon Treasurer, Mary Brennan, Hon. Assistant Treasurer, John Masterson, PRO.

Members of the Board were elected as follows:  Marion Acreman, Colin Ahern, Paschal Bergin, Michael Brannigan, Margaret Clancy, Martin Costello, Jason Dempsey, Gavin Dixon, Gary Graham, Claire McInerney Brown, Tom O’Connor, and Deirdre Shine.

CEO John Hurley launched the new Explore Kilkenny app. Working in conjunction with Kilkenny Tourism, the app will be the go-to point of information about Kilkenny for visitors and locals alike.  He encouraged everyone to download the App (search for Xplore App and choose Kilkenny) and provide feedback to the Chamber by emailing admin@kilkennychamber.ie.  The App is in operation now and over the coming months its functionality will be expanded to include the Chamber’s Gift Voucher Scheme and much more.

This week’s Chamber Chat discusses the importance of wellbeing in the workplace, a very relevant topic in today’s world. Brian Kelly from Mindaclient will introduce their new software programme aimed at helping employers to monitor and manage their employees’ wellbeing.

As always, there will be an opportunity to network and meet new business people who could help your own business to grow.

This is a FREE Event, but you must register by emailing admiin@kilkennychamber.ie

The Chamber started its 2023 Schedule of Chamber Chats, with The Core Story in the Set Theatre. Padraig Hyland, co-founder of the Core Story, presented to our biggest ever attendance at a Chamber Chat, outlining the importance of knowing your business story, and learning how to tell it in an engaging way.  Many of our Business Awards finalists and winners attended, and this was deliberate, as we wanted to show them how to use their success at the Awards to grow their business.