The Chamber has welcomed the decision by Aer Lingus to reinstate its direct route to San Francisco from Dublin in April 2014 but has called for the reintroduction of connecting flights between Cork and Dublin to facilitate onward connectivity for Cork-based businesses.  The Cork region has an already well developed cluster of ICT companies and the region continues to strengthen its linkages and successful partnerships with San Francisco and Silicon Valley.  Cork’s hosting of the Silicon Valley Comes to Ireland Summit earlier this year, its strong track record in attracting FDI from Silicon Valley and the number of Cork-based indigenous companies who have operations in Silicon Valley are just some examples of the strong business linkages between Cork and San Francisco.

However, the Chamber has stressed the importance of a Cork/Dublin air service to encourage and facilitate business usage of the new route and to enable Cork and its surrounding regions to fully capitalise on the business and inward investment opportunities that strong US air connectivity provides.  While there are challenges involved in securing this route, the Chamber is very committed to engaging with and lobbying on behalf of our members to try to bring about direct air connectivity between Cork and Dublin. 

Chambers Ireland: A National Entrepreneurship Policy Statement for Ireland:

Chambers Ireland has made a submission to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on ‘A National Entrepreneurship Policy Statement for Ireland.’  Research from the Central Bank shows that newer companies are responsible for the greatest levels of job creation and accordingly, the Chamber Networks believes that Government needs to send a strong and consistent message of support to potential entrepreneurs.  The creation of a policy statement on entrepreneurship is an opportunity for the Government to show its commitment to the potential business leaders of the future and can help to focus thoughts and actions on long term economic aims.

In the submission Chambers Ireland calls on the Government to:

1. Restore consumer confidence and domestic demand to the Irish economy. Without this, people with entrepreneurial spirit and innovative ideas will remain unwilling to take the risks involved in starting a new business
2. Promote a rationalised and joined-up approach to support for entrepreneurs
3. Collaborate with local Chambers of Commerce to facilitate the dissemination of information and the provision of expert knowledge
4. Encourage entrepreneurial activity by improving the business environment for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises e.g. ensuring that local businesses are not excluded from the public tendering processes
5. Ensure guidelines on insolvency mean that individuals who have previously failed in business, but have credible new ideas, are not prohibited from taking further risks
6. Recognise the work done by business support organisations in the areas of business networking and mentoring and utilize this to grow entrepreneurial networks
7. Promote the European Network of Mentors for Women Entrepreneurs to encourage and support new female entrepreneurs
8. Establish a Youth Entrepreneurship Fund as a positive means to address youth unemployment
9. Encourage a focused and coordinated approach to the teaching and development of entrepreneurship through secondary and third-level education.

For further information on this submission click HERE.

Restaurant Association of Ireland: Keep Vat at 9% campaign:


The Restaurant Association of Ireland is running a ‘Keep VAT at 9%’ campaign urging Government to retain the 9% VAT rate introduced in July 2011 for the hospitality and tourism sector.  Since the reduced VAT rate was introduced in 2011 it has had a positive effect creating 6,500 jobs in the tourism and restaurant industry.  The RAI is currently holding a number of events as part of its campaign highlighting the impact of the reduced VAT rate.

Cork Chamber fully supports the 9% VAT rate for the hospitality sector and has consistently highlighted its importance for the sector and the wider domestic economy in all communications with the relevant stakeholders and policy decision makers.  We have also incorporated calls for the extension of the reduced VAT rate into our Pre-Budget submissions.

For more information on the ‘Keep VAT at 9%’ campaign please visit www.keepvat9.ie