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Fingal Dublin Chamber of Commerce Providing Local Connectivity to National and Multinational BusinessFingal Dublin Chamber of Commerce delivers value to our members through a variety of opportunities to network, connect and engage. The Chamber is the accredited Chamber for the entire Fingal Region stretching from Blanchardstown in the west to Swords, Malahide in the east and Balbriggan in the north.

As the region’s largest business organisation, we also provide advice, support, referrals and representation to help your business grow and develop.

Fingal’s quality workforce and diverse economy create the ideal location to start, grow or re-locate a business. In addition to our member companies, the Fingal Dublin Chamber of Commerce has relationships with local, regional and national government and can help you to get the business information you need and to connect to the right people to help your business to grow and to succeed.

Chamber Buildings, North Street, Swords, Co. Dublin. K67 A3H7T. +353 (0)1 890 0977 E. info@fingaldublinchamber.ie W. www.fingaldublinchamber.ie @fingalchamber

FINGAL DUBLIN CHAMBER MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

WWW.FINGALDUBLINCHAMBER.IE/JOIN-FINGAL-CHAMBER

Fingal Dublin Chamber has provided leadership for the business community for nearly 20 years and is the leading and most influential network for businesses in the Fingal Dubin Region.

ConnectingWith nearly 350 business members who employ an estimated 20,000+ staff across every business sector, the Chamber actively promotes, lobbies and represents the business community at every level. The Chamber provides networking opportunitites and a range of services for Members while actively promoting and supporting a strong sustainable local economy. It has built strong relationships with local and national government and is an active member of Chambers Ireland, the national body representing Chambers of Commerce.Creating a stronger local economy and promoting the community through leadership and by influencing business issues is a major part of the Chamber’s work. Now more than ever it is vital to have access to people, information and resources that can help grow your business which makes the Chamber a cost effective investment.

NetworkingThe Chamber provides extensive networking opportunities which are essential in today’s environment. Members can meet potential customers by attending our many events which is also an opportunity for you and your company to increase your visibility and raise your profile. Membership of the Chamber provides exposure and information which are important ingredients for business success while also offering the following:

• An opportunity to create a stronger local economy

• Excellent Networking events• Promoting the community• Leadership and lobbying for businesses• Publishing and providing free of charge to

members our Year Book which includes all members contact details and an overview of the events held throughout the year

• Export documentation services which are a vital asset for any business involved in exporting

Certification & Exporting Documentation ServicesThe Chamber is a leading provider of export documentation services including handling all documents for certification and legalisation for trading partners througout the worlsd as well as a Notary Public and an Apostille service through the Departmentof Foreign Affairs. Companies can also avail of a secure online digital documentation certification system through TradeCert.

Corporate Respsonsibility NetworkThe Fingal Dublin Chamber has also set up the Fingal Corporate Responsibility Network Forum with founding partner PayPal. The Network provides support for companies seeking to promote CSR as part of their efforts to act responsibly and build strong,ethical relationships with customers, suppliers, the community and the environment around them.

By joining now you will be immediately included on our website and have access to all the latest developments in the Fingal Region.

Anthony Cooney was appointed chief executive officer of Fingal Dublin Chamber just 8 months ago but has already propelled the organisation into the modern digital age with progressive technology, an innovative communications platform and a vision for even more growth and prosperity for one of Ireland’s most vibrant business communities.

Fingal is a thriving region for commerce with a wide array of varied businesses from the global big names to the small local enterprises, each one adding their own importance to the rich tapestry of enterprise in the area.

The Dublin county has seen strong growth in recent years and the Chamber of Commerce is more committed than ever to enhancing Fingal’s position as an economic hub of activity.

Anthony Cooney took over the Chamber’s CEO role in September of last year and has clocked up enough hours in the business world to understand the trials and challenges of business life. The Malahide resident has over 20 years of commercial and corporate senior leadership experience with a number of organisations in Ireland and the UK. He is not long in his new role but is already leading the chamber into an exciting new era.

But what exactly does the chamber do? “Fingal Dublin Chamber provides advice and advocacy and lobbies on behalf of the business community in Fingal. We run Networking and social events as

An interview with Fingal Dublin Chamber CEO

Anthony Cooney

“My role is to ensure that the chamber is represented at the highest level in local and national government and is actively engaging with the business community at all levels. We also try where possible to encourage interaction with fellow chambers, not only in the Fingal region but across Ireland.”

Anthony attended an event held by the Belfast Chamber of Commerce recently and spoke of the importance of fostering relationships with other local chambers.

“There is an Eastern corridor between Belfast and Cork as the east coast of Ireland has 65 percent of the population in residence. We try and project the image of the chamber in a very professional light and interact and engage actively with national and local politicians”

Part of the new CEO’s brief was to modernise and introduce new systems and processes into the workings of the chamber with Anthony achieving this well before the deadline. “We Initially aimed to have these systems in place within 2 years but they were up and running within six and a half months.”

“We have implanted an updated sage accounting package, introduced a new CRM system and relaunched an easy to navigate website linking our four platforms for social media- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. They all have a live feed to our website. Everything is in real time now and we need to respond to that.”

“I have recruited a communications manager to communicate effectively with our members inviting them to events, addressing issues in the area and providing educational information,” he comments, “We also have a new e-zine that goes out monthly so there are many positive and exciting things happening. We have a new billing system that is inextricably linked with our CRM system so instead now of having a lot of different access databases we have it all in one centralised database,” he adds.

Anthony has also used his own experience in enterprise to address issues of his members. “People in business are so busy, their phone is constantly ringing. They have customers, suppliers and staff to deal with on a daily basis. We have members of all sizes from the DAA and Aer Lingus to eateries and corners hops but we treat them all equally and interact with them all.”

well as educational programmes. For example, we ran an event recently about PAYE modernisation, primarily aimed at smaller businesses because larger enterprises would have knowledge within the company and the capacity to deal with it whereas the smaller companies are so busy working in their business they need people like us to provide that sort of platform for educational items.”

“The collection for tax in going to change from January 2019, it’s really important that the SME sector is aware and compliant. The Revenue commissioners and Pimbrook software Solutions, a chamber member, were guest speakers and it was a very informative event and events like these are hugely advantageous to business owners.”

Anthony talks about the organisation and how it makes huge efforts to enhance business life in the county and support members at every level but what are the benefit for local businesses to be involved with Fingal Chamber?

“I was always a great believer in my own business life in going to events because you never know who you might meet and it’s always good to have contacts at different levels of organisations, from the very bottom to the very top, because irrespective of what issue comes across your desk you can resolve it,” he says, adding “You gain contacts in the events that the chamber run and people have a number of ways of engaging with us.”

The role of head of the chamber is a wide a varied one according to the CEO.

“We have fantastic infrastructure in Fingal and are well served with the M50 and various motorways but over 20,000 people work in Dublin Airport and 30 million people a year travel through it and we don’t have a train line. It’s not good enough, “he says.

“We take too long getting a project from concept to completion and we now won’t be ready until 2027 and as late as this week we didn’t have a route nailed down. The world won’t wait for us. We need to be more forceful to get these projects off the ground. Foreign direct investment bosses who generate hundreds of thousands of jobs in the Irish economy have told us that their executives coming in need to access transport,” he concludes.

New entrepreneurs are consumed with the scale of work and day to day duties involved. Many people are curious about Chambers but unsure of the benefit but Anthony invites anyone interested to just come and talk.

“We have people coming to us all the time and saying I would like to join but I’m not sure if I’ll get anything out of it. We’d always invite them to a couple of events and say, you tell us if it’s working. Another thing we do for companies is export documentation services. Companies who export to Arab countries in particular need certificate of origination, only chambers of commerce that are affiliated with National Chambers Ireland can provide that and we are only one in Fingal. We provide that service to members and non members in Fingal.”

Anthony and his team at Fingal Chamber wants to harness creativity, which already thrives within the community, using it to make Fingal an even better place to live, work and do business as he explains.

“Fingal is different from any other area around the country. 25 per cent of people in Fingal work in tourism. 70 percent of horticulture exported from the island of Ireland comes from North Dublin so there is a huge agricultural base in Fingal that many people are not aware of.

We host an array of high end foreign direct investment companies and just under five percent of the gross domestic product of the nation is contained within the four walls of Dublin Airport which is a huge economic driver.”

“Lets not forget about the academic institutions of Blanchardstown and DCU. DCU is not geographically in Fingal but a large proportion of the students come from Fingal so we would very much look at DCU as being in partner with us, in fact, we as a chamber financially support its access programme which is very important in helping people go through university who may not otherwise get the opportunity.”

With the third biggest, fastest growing and youngest population in Ireland, Fingal is vibrant with diversity. “When you think of economic activity you think of people connecting to a utility grid and last year almost 30 per cent of ESB networks connections nationally were in the Fingal area, “he says, adding “we have 90 kilometres of coastline, it’s an excellent place to invest to work and to live and living is important. We are trying to attract foreign direct investment and those people coming to work in these establishments need somewhere to live and without doubt Fingal has lot going for it.”

It’s clear to see that the new boss has made this role his own and is passionate about forging ahead with even more plans to improve the chamber and encourage further growth for the entrepreneurial world in Fingal.

“We’d like to attract more members and develop a greater degree of cooperation with fellow chambers within Fingal. We have a very good relationship with them especially Balbriggan. The town has so much to offer with a fantastic road network, rail line and a beautiful harbour. The historic Breamore and Ardgillan Castles are right on the doorstep. We need to be more open and cooperate with our fellow chambers as it will benefit us all.”

“We now have the platforms to communicate very effectively with our members and we will use those tools going forward, “he comments, adding “We have the contacts, energy and resource to communicate with national and local government. Our system is that well engineered that we could almost manage everybody in this country who is a member of a chamber of commerce on our platform. It’s a really smart system and designed with the chambers of commerce in mind. We fully expect to be able to represent Fingal in the most affective and constructive way possible.”

What advice would he give anyone thinking of starting a business? “Engage with your local enterprise office. We have an excellent one in Fingal headed up by Oisin Geoghagan. I would also suggest getting a mentor and that’s something we can help with. Someone from a different walk of life can put another perspective on things and a different view is always good as long as it’s not obstructive,” he says, adding “People get consumed internally in a business starting out, you need someone to have an over arching view of it and the environment they are operating in.”

Fingal Chamber and County Council work in unison on local issues and have built a strong relationship over the years as Anthony explains.

“Fingal County Council has been very helpful to me over the last few months. They are hugely involved and very hands on. We had a council committee meeting recently and set up three different sub committees out of it, two of whom have already met on their relative subject.”

“The council is very progressive and pro business and really open in relation to dealing with us, the chamber, as we are with them,” he comments, continuing he says, “They are superbly led by Paul Reid who is a really dynamic chief executive and also Ed Hern who is the director of Economic Development and Tourism.”

So what are the biggest challenges for businesses at the moment?The cost of doing business is too high. We are very tightly regulated which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but too stringent a regulation can be an inhibitor to business. If you operate a business north of the border you will probably run it at a little under half of the cost of operating in the Republic of Ireland. It’s far more efficient financially to have a business 60 miles away than it is in Dublin. Labour and infrastructure costs are lower. Vehicles, goods, VAT rate, you name it. That needs to change.”

Another important issue for the area according to Anthony is public transport with Dublin being only one of two European capital cities that doesn’t have a train line from its International Airport.