‘Waterford is open for business and looking for investors’ was the resounding message delivered loud and clear at Waterford Chamber’s Dublin Diaspora Dinner, sponsored by EY, Waterford Local Enterprise Office and Waterford Chamber Skillnet, at The Dunmore, Rathmines, with over 90 business influencers with connections to Waterford in attendance.
Opening proceedings, Niall Harrington, Waterford Chamber President showed his passion for his home city, the opportunities for development and the need for investment to create a vibrant city centre.
“Waterford has a catchment of over 634,000 people within an hour’s drive, which presents incredible opportunities for our City and City Region. These opportunities present themselves in several key sectors where we can currently see Waterford excelling in.
“Our population has risen by 12% making Waterford the fastest growing regional city and this is achieved by the creation of new jobs and the provision of new homes, be it social, affordable, or private. “We are also seeing increases in our tourism numbers as our award-winning attractions such as the Greenway, House of Waterford Crystal, Viking Triangle, Copper Coast, Mount Congreve etc and the overall package in Waterford and our region is becoming better known. This has led to a hotel bed shortage of 770 hotel beds currently that will rise to 1500 beds by 2040. The delivery of the additional funding into Waterford Airport is an absolute must for our region and a key ingredient to our tourism and business sector growth
“Now that we’re starting to see the emergency of the North Quays infrastructure and the sustainable transport hub of bus train and greenway and the new bridge is not too far away, we’re seeing a new Waterford emerging as a counterbalance to the oldest City in Ireland and the mix of uses plan will only further underpin our housing, job creation and tourism sectors.
“Our educational achievements with ‘our’ new university and the recent announcement of the school of veterinary science coming to SETU is a massive step forward and hopefully our university’s ambition will be further underpinned by the soon to be announced school of pharmacy and nursing. These significant wins and the great work being done by the University team and the Walton Institute is a testimony to our region’s growing reputation nationally and internationally as a ‘can do community’.
“Our ports, Waterford and Rosslare are primed to be a generational changing, business catalyst for exponential growth when we develop and harness the offshore wind energy for City and Region. We are best placed to be the champions in the construction, operation and maintenance, research and development, education and training for off shore renewable wind energy and it is incumbent on us to ensure this is delivered and the appropriate funding mechanisms either government or private are brought to the table to enable our ports to ‘be ready’.
“We of course must give full recognition to all of those existing business that drive our city and regional economy on a daily basis and we look forward to working with in collaboration with them, our Oireachtas members, City and County Councils, IDA, EI and all or the other regional stakeholders in recognising their ambition and achievements at our upcoming Waterford Business Awards event in November.”
Taking over from Niall, Hugh Wallace, architect for the North Quays development and of RTE’s Home of the Year, spoke with pride about the design of the project, which is said to be a game changer for the South East.
Following a delicious meal at the busy Rathmines restaurant, which is owned by well-known Waterford hoteliers the Foyle family, Economist and Waterford native Jim Power offered an economic overview of Waterford, exuding passion and pride in the place he calls home.
Jim went on to introduce a panel of speakers, including Jean McCabe, Retail Excellence Ireland; Sean McKeown, Chief Executive, Waterford Council; Prof Veronica Campbell, President SETU; Ronan Mulligan, Mulligans Pharmacy; Collette Devey, EY and Fergal Doyle, Arboretum Home & Garden Heaven and Retail Excellence Ireland.
The panel offered insights into their various remits, ensuring guests were left no doubt that Waterford was a city of collaboration, with key stakeholders working hand in hand to develop the region and that ambitions were high but not unattainable.
From the floor, Pat Power of Harcourt Developments gave an updated in terms of the progress of the build at the North Quays, while Deputy Matt Shanahan TD, congratulated Prof Campbell on SETU securing the new Veterinary School, while also adding that despite their political allegiances, the Oireachtas members in Waterford all have the same goal and work very well together to represent the people of Waterford.
As the rain poured down on the streets of Dublin, guests who included leading estate agents like Colliers, retailers including Louis Copeland and stakeholders such as IDA Ireland, opted for networking by the fire and the promises of promoting Waterford and the South East region rang long into the night.
Following the event, Gerald Hurley, CEO of Waterford Chamber said: “Our Diaspora Dinner proved to be a huge success again this year. We were delighted to welcome such a strong and influential audience and we know many of the business contacts in the room have now gone away considering Waterford and the South East as a real alternative to Dublin. We set them the task of acting as Ambassadors and spreading the word about Waterford. Our next job is convert these leads and develop a vibrant city centre which can be a catalyst for the development of the whole region.”
