New Chamber President says critical challenges remain for Cork that must be addressed
Horgan, Dr City, Board New Van Ucc, Gillian Ceo, Lonergan, President Dell Cork Cork Left: Carmel O'toole, Garrett Hotel, Agm Clayton Elected Conor President, Conor 205th Cork Sinderen Trigon Members Technologies, Jean Chamber Hotels, Chamber Rob Law, Cork Rob Healy, Chamber At Newly Solarwinds The With Horgan From Bergin, O'keeffe,
Cork Chamber announced entrepreneur and Velo Coffee owner Rob Horgan as its new president at the business group's AGM.
Horgan takes over the role from outgoing president Ronan Murray. At the 205th AGM held at the Imperial Hotel Cork, Mr Horgan outlined his vision to further Cork's economic and social prosperity.
"This city has been my playground, my school ground, my workplace, my homeplace," he said, lauding Cork's evolution into a bustling metropolitan area.
"Cork City generates the highest revenue per person in Ireland. Cork boasts strong business clusters across ICT, pharma, cyber security, renewable energy, financial and professional services, maritime and agri-food. Our universities and colleges of further education have over 40,000 students and 10,000 graduates annually combined. With our pro-business environment, it is no wonder that Cork was ranked No 1 small European city for FDI strategy in the Financial Times European Cities and Regions of the Future.”
However, he said critical challenges remain for Cork that must be addressed to support the business community, particularly in housing and urban development. "The renovations that are most needed are those to our thinking if we are to deliver this. Instead of listing the barriers, we need lists of solutions. We simply must find creative resolutions to the issues that are rendering so much real estate vacant and falling into disrepair.”
"The city centre needs to be a welcoming place where everybody feels safe. There is no doubt that we need greater resourcing for our Gardaí to support our communities. This resource needs to be a publicly visible Garda presence, not a quoted number," he said.
Also at the AGM, new Crok Chamber board members were announced, Dr Jean Van Sinderen-Law, UCC, Conor O Toole, Clayton Hotel Cork City, Carmel Lonergan, Trigon Hotels, Garrett O’Keeffe, Solarwinds, Gillian Bergin, Dell Technologies. Susie Horgan, Springboard Communications was appointed Honorary Secretary and Michael Nolan, Grant Thornton was appointed Honorary Treasurer.
With upcoming local and European elections, Mr Horgan urged the business community to actively engage with candidates on key issues. " I urge each and every one of you to use your votes wisely. The candidates we elect will be entrusted with the responsibility of shaping the social and economic landscape of Cork for the next five years. I ask you to engage these candidates on the issues that are affecting your business. Your business is a valuable contributor to our local economy and it is in all our interests that our elected representatives are as ambitious for Cork as we are.”
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