The past few days have brought much change to our lives. The COVID-19 situation is rapidly evolving, and Government has escalated controls in the interest of public health. We know there is much uncertainty right now, and while it is still relatively early days, we continue to work tirelessly to represent the interests of you, our members, and indeed the wider business community. Our community is resilient, and together we will get through this.

During this time, we will be providing you with frequent updates and resources. I want to share important details with you on how we are supporting our members, new resources we have made available and adjustments we made to our operations.

With the extensive development of Horgan’s Quay ongoing, we will see a dramatic change in the profile and usage of the quay in 2020. This requires a transformation in how the Water Street and Horgan’s Quay corridor is managed and a balancing of multiple needs and usage patterns. Cork Chamber made a submission to this, outlining the benefits of a safe and connected cycle network, infrastructure and public realm for pedestrians to the long term development of this area and the City.

Congratulations to Sean Cahill, Student of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, who recently won first prize of the Gantly Award. The Joe Gantly Prize In Engineering, established by Cork Chamber, is awarded to the Best Student on the Work Placement module in the BE(Hons) Programmes.

Colm Power, Ciara O’Connor and Vincent Tierney also received prizes for their exemplary work. All the students should be very proud of their placements and how they communicated their experience to the panel.

Pictured here L to R are: Prof Jorge Oliveira, Head, School of Engineering, Philip Quinlan, Analogue Devices, Sean Cahill (winner), Student of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Thomas McHugh, Chamber.

Cork Chamber has been shortlisted for 6 categories in the 2020 Chamber Awards. Run by Chambers Ireland, the awards recognise excellence and innovation in the work of the Chambers network nationwide.

We are delighted to be shortlised for the following:

Best Chamber Marketing Campaign - Cork Chamber's Bicentenary Celebrations

Event of the Year - Networking at Cork City Gaol

Local Authority Collaboration - Ireland's Greenest Bus Fleet

Most Innovative Project -  The Sustainable Cork Fund

Most Successful Policy Campaign - The Viability and Affordability of Apartment Building in Cork City

Best Membership Initiative - Cork Chamber Pioneer Membership

We would like to advise clients that our Export Services are continuing to operate as normal. We understand that this is a challenging time and working together and keeping up communication is essential.

We ask that our Export Clients contact Imelda or Leigh to notify us of any changes in demand or any additional requirements, so that we can put in place a plan to support you.

The European Commission is calling for startups and SMEs with technologies and innovations that could help in treating, testing, monitoring or other aspects of the Coronavirus outbreak to apply urgently to the next round of funding from the European Innovation Council. The deadline for applications to the EIC Accelerator is 17:00 on Friday 20 March (New deadline).