In the Hot Seat

with Mairead Hennessy

1). Tell me a bit about yourself;

I’m from Castleknock in Dublin and moved to Kildare in 2008 when my now husband, Padraig, and I decided to build our home in Moone in South Kildare. Padraig and I now have three children, Micheál is 9, Fionn is 8 and Alannah is 4. It’s a busy household but lots of fun.

I set up Taxkey in 2016 and I had been thinking about it for a number of years before that. I believed that there was an opportunity to provide an outsourced Tax Partner service to accountancy practices that do not have an inhouse Tax Partner. It’s a model that works very well in other countries such as New Zealand and the UK and from what I could see at the time, it wasn’t being done to nearly the same extent in Ireland.

Setting up the business was a big decision but I decided to go for it and thankfully I haven’t looked back. In Taxkey, we partner with accountancy practices throughout Ireland and some UK practices when they need Irish tax advice. We also work closely with a number of financial advisors and solicitor firms.

I love running the business. I really enjoy the autonomy in terms of directing the type of work we do and the clients we work with. It’s a privilege to work with clients who are making very big business and life decisions. Every day is different, one day we might be working with parents deciding on when to pass a business to children and the next advising a business on how to structure a property purchase tax efficiently. The work is very varied so its always interesting.

2). What can we expect from Mairead Hennessy’s term as President?

I am really looking forward to my term as President. The Chamber has done so well over the past couple of years during the very challenging Covid period. Our membership has increased by about 24% during this time and we are the only Chamber in the country to have achieved this. We currently represent more than 400 businesses with circa 42,000 employees.

Luke Hanahoe was extremely effective as President over the past 3 years. He championed the Chamber Policy Council and bringing Sinéad Ronan on board as Policy Affairs Manager. We’re the only Chamber outside the cities to have such a role and it enhances our ability to effectively lobby local and national government on behalf of our members. These developments have really added weight to the Chamber’s offering to its members.

It’s an exciting time for the Chamber. I’m very much looking forward to building on this momentum and expanding the international focus of the Chamber. The delegation coming to Kildare from the Boston Ireland Trade Association (BITA) at the end of November and the Kildare Chamber’s trade mission to Boston next March are good examples of

this. These visits provide channels to maximise the potential for trade opportunities for Kildare businesses, both inbound and outbound.

I’m also excited by new Business Owners’ Forums starting next year specifically focused on small and medium sized member businesses. This initiative will provide opportunities for businesses to connect and learn from each other through collaborative meetings. Further details on the Forums will be available in early 2023.

3). As Vice President of the Chamber for the last three years, what has been your standout moment in that time?

My standout moment over the past three years during my term as Vice President was undoubtedly going on the trade mission to Boston last June with Luke and Chamber CEO Allan Shine. Over the course of the trip, I saw first hand the hard work that the Kildare Chamber team have put into building relationships with Boston and the Quincy Chamber of Commerce. Quincy is a city on the outskirts of Boston and the membership profile of its Chamber is similar to that of the County Kildare Chamber. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the County Kildare Chamber and the Quincy Chamber creates a partnership between the two Chambers and ensures that Kildare business is well networked within Boston city and surrounding area.

We also met with the Irish Consulate in Boston and the IDA officials based in Boston. These meetings provided good insight for me in terms of Irish business connections in Boston.

4). What is your sense of the Chamber’s relationship with key stakeholders in Kildare?

Its very important that the Chamber has strong working relationships with key stakeholders in Kildare. At the end of the day, we are all working in the interests of the County so everyone benefits when we work together.

The team at County Kildare Chamber enjoy an excellent relationship with Government ministers and departments. As we continue to develop the Chamber’s lobbying activities, I look forward to this interaction increasing to ensure that Kildare’s business voice is heard at both local and national policy levels. Similarly, the Chamber enjoys a strong and collaborative relationship the Kildare LEO and County Council officials. I am very much looking forward to working with the newly appointed CEO of Kildare County Council Sonya Kavanagh to ensure that Kildare is well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities for business development in the county over the coming years.

During my term as Vice President, I was the Chamber’s representative on the County Council’s Local Community Development Committee (LCDC). I was also a member of the Rural Development Programme (RDP) within the LCDC and it was so interesting learning about the various Rural Development Programmes going on around the county. As I live in quite a rural part of the county in Moone, being part of the RDP was really interesting for me from a personal perspective also.

It is important that the Chamber inputs into these programmes and Sinéad Ronan currently represents the Chamber on the LCDC as part of her role as Policy Affairs Manager.

5). With a company based in Moone, in the south of the county, is it important for you to have a business representative body representing the whole county?

The County Kildare Chamber is an all-county Chamber and this means that it must represent the interests of business located in all parts of the county. The Chamber’s Executive Committee is made up of members from each of the five Municipal Districts and this is a very deliberate decision in terms of the Committee’s composition.

I would strongly encourage businesses in all parts of the County to actively engage with the Chamber. It is the largest business representative body in the Mid East region and our vision is to become a world leading Chamber. Our continued growth will ensure that we can achieve our ambition to deliver on a progressive economic and sustainability agenda at the heart of a vibrant business community. The Chamber wants to represent the voice of businesses throughout the county – north, south, east and west.

Next year all Chamber events will be fully in person and this provides us with the opportunity to host events at various locations throughout the county. In recent months, the Business After Hours evening networking events have been hosted in various locations around the county – the National Stud, Newbridge Silverware and Colourtrend’s Paint and Wallpaper Store in Celbridge. Events such as these provide members with unique opportunities to visit and learn about other businesses around the County.

6). Why would you say it is important for a business to join their Chamber?

Absolutely yes! Putting back on my business owner hat for a minute I can honestly say that joining the Chamber was one of the best things that I did when I started Taxkey in 2016.

I attended the weekly networking mornings regularly and went to as many Chamber events as I could. I really enjoyed meeting other business owners who had also recently set up their own business or where further along the journey.

The support I got from other Chamber members was priceless. I found that even where businesses are quite different in terms of their product or service offering, the challenges and curveballs along the way for business owners are often very similar. We have clients today who came through Chamber referrals 5 or 6 years ago, so the tangible business benefits from actively participating in the Chamber are very real.