Directory About Us Galway Chamber is the premier business organisation in Galway. We currently represent nearly 500 companies, and in turn represent over 27,000 employees in Galway City and County. We are a privately constituted organisation, that works for the interests of businesses, and for the economic development of the City and Region. Our Vision Statement: ‘Galway at the leading edge’ The message from this vision statement is that Galway will strive to be the best at whatever it undertakes, to achieve excellence in everything, to be to the fore in new developments and to be the leading location in every endeavour it undertakes. Most of all this vision statement is an attitude and way of thinking. This vision is intended to be a motivator, a target to be achieved and a commitment to excellence. This vision can be applied to all aspects of life and business in Galway. Therefore our Mission is to: "Make Galway the leading location for business, investment and people" Our activities include influencing decisions and lobbying on behalf of businesses, providing opportunities for business networking, export documentation, trade information, business promotion & support and encouraging mutual business support between members. Whether your business is Retail, Manufacturing, IT, Services, Financial, R&D or other, the continued well-being of your business is inextricably linked to the continued well being of Galway. The full time staff and the many ‘voluntary’ people who comprise Galway Chamber work tirelessly to ensure that Galway will continue to be a vibrant ‘leading edge’ location for business, investment and people. We support our Galway. Galway Chamber is affiliated to Chambers Ireland and EUROCHAMBRES. Message from Chamber President Aengus Burns Go raibh mile maith agaibh a chairde. I am hugely honoured and humbled to have been elected Galway Chamber President. Well done JP, what should have been a very difficult term as the Pandemic President you made look much easier as you and the team embraced technology and in particular the art of Zoom. Your steady manner, calm nature and grounded leadership allowed for unity of purpose and consistent messaging. I hope to be able to continue with many of those qualities during my term ahead and I thank you for your efforts over the last year. You have rightfully recognised Kenny and his team for their hard work and I take great comfort from knowing that we have the best Galway Chamber executive ever. You have also called out some true legends of Galway Chamber who are not returning to Council this year. There is little chance of any real escape for them as we know they will be pulled back into projects shortly and I thank them also for past and future endeavours. Newcomers I am particularly delighted with the gender and business sector mix of our council nominees as it makes us more representative and eclectic. It is new thinking and ideas while will keep us relevant. Galway is a welcoming city that thrives with new blood and ideas and I hope it continues to embrace that attitude. As a University City we have a supersized academic infrastructure, the envy of many other locations and I am delighted to see more and more connectivity between Academia and our Business members. In particular we are fully supportive of the various business incubators and infrastructural developments emanating from NUIG and GMIT. I am excited to see Galway Chamber working more closely with both organisations. As the leading city and economic driver for the West and North West we continue to work together with the North West Regional Assembly and the Western Development Commission in marketing our region and presenting a united front in lobbying government for investment and supports. We want to drive the repopulation and reinvigoration of the West and post Pandemic we will continue to see our region attract more and more people to live and work. We have a real chance to right centuries of underinvestment and emigration and I am hugely enthusiastic for the role Galway will play for our region. We only have to look at our ability to create jobs in multiple economic clusters from engineering through to, creative, tourism and financial services sectors and the stream of workers coming into our city from the wider region to know how important our City is to revitalising the region. Covid 19 Recovery We have seen enormous disruption to business in the past year and while we will continue to do our best to represent our members, provide leadership and lobby for support we know that Brexit and the Covid 19 Pandemic has forced massive, accelerated and permanent changes to the way we think, live and do business. We continue to see unprecedented government intervention in an attempt to shield business and employees from negative impacts. We will continue to communicate our member concerns and demand better. We will continue to provide leadership towards a better business future. Future Galway Galway will recover from the Pandemic and will be well placed to benefit from changes to society and our way of working. As ambitious workers seek better places to live the Galway brand is already attractive and we will see significant growth. In order to use that growth to make a better City for working and living we will continue to encourage facilitate more infrastructural investments. Galway Chamber is the only truly Galway biased organisation dedicated to its member businesses and their workers. We are unapologetic in demanding and getting better for our City and Region. Through our five strategic pillars we will continue to focus on broad based incremental improvements. We need to keep building consensus across all stakeholders to ensure unity of purpose and avoid any excuse for prevarication or delay. We know this is about building momentum and small wins leading to big wins with growing confidence in what our City can deliver. In Galway Chamber we will continue to improve our interaction with local and national government to encourage financial support and infrastructural investment and to hold our public servants accountable for delivery. Our tone will continue to be encouraging but firm, helpful but delivery focused. Four years ago a major concern was our lack of working space – now we have major office developments nearing completion at Bonham Quay and Crown Square, extensions to Galway Technology Centre and new space at the Galway City Innovation District. Housing We now must see more progress in delivering housing in our city to mitigate residential sprawl and the car dependency it brings. We are actively supportive of new developments at Galway Harbour, Augustine Hill and by the Land Development Agency at Sandy Road and Dyke Road in bringing state owned lands into use so that people can live and work in the City better using the facilities that we already have. We want to bring more communities into the City to live and work. By bringing more people together business networks strengthen and grow. We have plenty capacity for renovation of underutilised amenities in our City and it is the sustainable way to grow our future. Galway Chamber engaged and advocated for investment in state owned lands to deliver offices and housing through ideas emanating from our Infrastructure Committee and I have no doubt that the efforts of the Chamber are bearing fruit now. Transport Through Get Galway Moving we engage and communicate on transport matters in particular the delivery of the Galway Transport Strategy which includes Bus and cycle corridors, new train tracks as well as the Galway City Ring Road. The delays in delivery have been intolerable and while the new way of working provides some relief to traffic congestion we must have new infrastructure to facilitate growth and our ability to move. We do not allow diverging opinions to slow the roll out of decisions that have already been made. The Galway Transport Strategy is a journey and not a final destination. We will continue to build on it but we must see more tangible progress in its delivery or we are at risk of choking off our City to future development. For a City and Region feeding primarily into international markets our access to other cities is of vital performance. We are fully connected economically so we must be fully connected by transport. We continue to push for further development of our regional airports, bus and rail networks. We will not allow Galway to be down the list when it comes to Transport investment. Future Galway Future West We see many very ambitious and active organisations in Galway from our public sector and educational bodies to our various industry champions. We recognise that their visions and dreams overlap but do not always work in concert. Our Future Galway Future West initiative led by Mark Gantly and Peter Hynes will bring together the best of Galway to better access ideas and capital to accelerate key projects. I really feel there are so many positives for Galway that are turning into place and building momentum. There will be future upheavals and crises no doubt but with our consensus approach and unrelenting efforts we have and will continue to see great achievements. We are working together more than ever before with consistency of vison and purpose and I am truly excited for Galway, its Chamber and members. I thank you again for the honour of being your President. Go raibh mile maith agaibh. Aengus Burns Galway Chamber President 2021 91-563536 Commerce House Merchants Road Galway H91 C8K1 info@galwaychamber.com Our Galway Who We Are What We Do What We Talk About JOIN NOW MEMBER LOGIN Socialize © 2021 Galway Chamber. All Rights Reserved | Site by GrowthZone