Dear Chamber Member,

I hope you, your colleagues and families are keeping safe and well.
 
The renewal of restrictions, bringing us to what we now know as level 5, is challenging for people and businesses throughout Cork.

It is at times like this that community is more important than ever, and I remind all our members that the Chamber remain unrelenting in our support of the business community. Please stay in touch with me or any of the Chamber team to discuss the issues affecting your business and how we can support you. Our lobbying activity has been operating at an intense pace through this year, and it is positive to see the Government responding with improved supports, extended rates waivers and increasingly more tailored approach to business supports.

The increase to the value of the Wage Subsidy Scheme, is very welcome. There must also be absolute urgency in the deployment of business supports and in particular the new Covid Restrictions Support Scheme which is now needed less than a week after its launch on Budget day. Any timelag in the availability of payments will be detrimental to businesses that were only beginning to come up for air <latest updates here>.

Every citizen and business has a role to play in bringing about reduced restrictions. It is essential that progress is made before the Christmas period kicks off in earnest. It is hard to overstate the significance of this trading period to retail and hospitality and we urge anyone shopping online to search the names of their local providers rather than simply searching for the product or service you have in mind. It’s no longer about consumer preference, it’s about keeping people in our community at work. The Cork Chamber Gift Card, which can be purchased online, is a great option for those looking to support the local economy through team rewards or Christmas gifts. 

Government must continue to accelerate and strive for exemplary testing, tracing and isolating to ensure that no technical barrier exists to lessening the restriction levels. Businesses continue to take every conceivable step and it essential that the relentless pursuit of best in class testing continues, so that in so far as is safely possible, economic activity can exist in parallel with pandemic control.

Yesterday’s flooding brought additional stresses to those affected in the city centre. This current chapter in the ongoing flooding of Cork City centre is highly challenging and quite simply, had the Morrison’s Island flood defences been in place, yesterday's flooding would not have occurred. We are now in a place where Morrison’s island is undergoing a challenge in the high court despite the scheme being supported by the business representative organisations, City Council, the OPW and Government. We have a solution, and we must start making progress.

There is also cause for positivity. Construction, and manufacturing remain open and will continue to perform providing some much needed stability. Those that can work from home are well accustomed to it by now. The Dunkettle Interchange has been a positive investment decision, and planning has been granted for Ireland's tallest building at the custom house and for a comprehensive upgrade of the public realm at Mc Curtain Street. Meanwhile, the greatest street artists in Ireland have been leaving their mark on Cork through the Árdu project led by local artist Shane O’Driscoll.

Ultimately, we must keep Cork working, and while the news this week is immense, now is the time pull together once again.

Conor Healy

087 947 1858