Discover Duhallow Issue 61

IRD Duhallow Hosts Business Breakfast Event

By MONICA GILMORE

The sun shone brightly as IRD Duhallow CEO Maura Walsh welcomed guests and speakers to the Business Breakfast Event which took place on Tuesday morning the 29th of March at the James O’Keeffe Institute. Maura had the pleasure of welcoming the first guest speaker back to IRD as Cork Chamber President Paula Cogan began her career as tourism officer with IRD Duhallow.

Paula spoke about the importance of talent development and the supports on offer from Skillnet in this regard. She talked about networking, taking time each week to meet fellow business people to collaborate and also of the work being done by Cork Chamber.

Paula then joined the panel of speakers which included Claire O’Leary – Munster Fire and Safety, Jenny Rose Clarke – Toons Bridge Dairy and Michéal Sheridan – Irish Community Air Ambulance. Enterprise working group chairman Padraic O’Connell assisted by cochair Geraldine O’Leary opened the panel discussion where the panellists spoke about their businesses, the challenges they have faced and everybody got some great tips on how to move forward and innovate in business. Michéal told attendees about the fantastic work that the community air ambulance is doing, the services and challenges of fundraising. He spoke about the importance of networking and the benefits of meeting fellow business people at events such as the business breakfast.

We had the pleasure of welcoming Cork County Mayor Cllr Gillian Coughlan for her first visit to IRD Duhallow and Newmarket and facilitating a tour of the James O’Keeffe Institute for her. Everybody enjoyed the delicious breakfast provided by manager Linda O’Connor and the team in Duhallow Community Food Services.

We would like to thank everybody that attended the event and we look forward to welcoming you back to The James O’Keeffe Institute again in the near future.

For information on training and business supports on offer from IRD Duhallow call 029 60633 or visit www.irdduhallow.com.

All photos by Tadhg Curtin