Imagine All The People.

As businesses edge ever closer to the last quarter of the 2015 financial year many will start reviewing the year just past and start to scrutinise whether or not it has come up to the meticulous financial planning that took place some nine or even ten months or so ago. As each of Waterford’s many City Centre businesses give due consideration as to whether 2015 has been a good, bad or just an average year we must bear in mind that there as some circa 1500 people employed across our City Centre and as such our City Centre is one of our largest “employers” and the success or failure of our City Centre will impact on everyone who lives, works and plays in Waterford.

There can be no doubt that increasing footfall in the last quarter of the year will be welcome, but I fear that it will not be enough for a number of businesses who are once again literally hanging on by their fingertips – it seems that this is becoming a rather worrying annual trend!

We need to address a more constructive and creative way of increasing the footfall right across the entire City Centre and we need to ensure that our City Centre becomes a destination that attracts and encourages a higher spend from right across the wider South East region and further afield.

At present we can see continued pressure on our City Centre businesses and there is repeated increased pressure on these businesses in terms of paying the “day to day” associated business costs. In fact there are many business owners now having to resort to paying for business bills and expenses on their own personal credit cards just to survive from one month to the next. Yet this message of hardship does not seem to be being addressed and there are many people that quite wrongly assume that if you are in business today in Waterford you are making a fortune! How wrong can you be!

Let us not be in any doubt that Waterford is on the third or last tier of Ireland’s economic recovery and we lag so far behind the likes Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway that it will take significant investment and help to get us near to any sort of meaningful recovery, let alone on par with these other Cities that are now so far ahead of Waterford that we may never catch up. By the very nature of this lopsided, central belt, recovery the South East and North West will need considerable economic incentives that far exceed what we are currently receiving at the moment.

Our City Centre employers must have an opportunity to compete and this in turn will create employment and this in turn will generate greater spend and this in turn will increase footfall – it really is a case of ever increasing circles. But alas there are those who cannot see these opportunities and rather than use carrots to get our localised economy moving, once again we are being beaten with not one stick but several sticks all at once.

So just how do we increase the footfall through our City Centre and that is the €64,000,000 question?

Our festivals certainly bring additional footfall to the City but they do not necessarily bring increased spend for our hard hit commercial rate payers. The many festivals that we can now call annual events do continue to be reasonably successful but as with all events they have a lifespan and there are pluses and minuses to holding and staging such large annual events.

Unless these are staged as part of an overall “festival plan”, that avoids “clustering” of events, then there will be a diminishing return on our investment. In addition due to the fact that we continue to see falling or stagnant footfall to the City “clustering” our festival automatically equates to lessening the economic benefit for the commercial rate paying businesses in our City.

If we are to become a “festival capital” capable of rivalling the likes of Galway City then we must try harder to get it right, and perhaps more importantly we must work harder to get a greater “buy-in” from the very businesses that are paying their part through annual commercial rates contributions. At present many of these businesses see and perceive no or very little financial return and therefore we will continue to see issues around “buy-in”. Perhaps the messaging is all wrong and just maybe certain stakeholders are just expecting businesses to “buy-in” without examining the messaging they are delivering. Or at the very least they are wrongly “assuming” they have got the messaging right when in fact the only people on the same page are those closest to them and not the wider City stakeholders.

In a past life I organised trade exhibitions all around the UK and to keep these exhibitions fresh and relevant we had to introduce new exhibitors every year, we had to develop the exhibition every year and we had to be very creative with the messaging every year. If we got all that right we would continue to see annual increases in visitor numbers and increased visitor numbers meant more income for the exhibitors and this in turn gave the exhibition longevity. Get it wrong and an exhibition would very quickly become extinct. As I see it attracting people to our City Centre is much like attract people to those exhibitions I once relied on to make a living. In the exhibition industry we needed to have lots of carrots and there was not a stick to be seen anywhere.

One of the other recurrent issues with driving footfall up in the City Centre is of course the perceived cost of car parking. As a City we can now see mounting pressure attracting people from residential areas such as the Dunmore Road into the City Centre. The now huge variety of new shops and free car parking available in and around Ardkeen means there is less of an incentive for people to travel those extra few kilometres to the City Centre.

Drive past this area of the City and you will see many, many cars parked and many people shopping. And with the imminent proposed start to the excellent GIY project there will be literally many more attractive carrots in this area that will prevent even more people coming into the City Centre.

So it seems that unless we come up with a holistic approach to ensuring the renaissance of the City Centre we will continue to see it struggle and we will continue to see footfall remaining stagnant or falling. We really must come up with creative solutions that communicate the unique selling points of our City Centre and we need to give our City Centre businesses a much needed helping hand.

Let us stop looking for radical consultant lead answers when every man and his dog knows what is needed. We seem to be trying all manner of complicated solutions and yet the answers may well be right under our noses.

Jobs, jobs, jobs......but really how many?

You just knew that there was a jobs announcement on the way when FOUR Ministers turned up in Waterford City at the start of last week. Like London Buses you wait forever for one to arrive and then four arrive all at once, and before you know it they are off again tearing away at breakneck speed. However, as RTE were covering this jobs announcement it was going to be a very safe bet that some of our senior people from Dáil Éireann would turn up. But I have rarely seen such a large number of Ministers descend on our City so there MUST have been good news in the offing.

The jobs announcements last week are most welcome for Waterford City, Waterford County and of course the greater wider SE region. With Eishtec expanding into Clonmel they must now be one of the largest employers in the region, if not Ireland, with circa 1300 employees. And to think that this company literally rose out of the ashes of Talk Talk a number of years ago. With centres in Waterford, Wexford, Craigavon and now Clonmel this business is on an upward curve.

I still vividly recall the announcement that Talk Talk was to close in Waterford City. This after all was a very profitable company and a company competing very favourably in what is a very demanding and tough market sector. The Talk Talk closure affected the whole SE region and I remember after the closure collating stats to aid sourcing training grants and I was amazed by the numbers of people this company employed right across the region. This was a prime example at how a Waterford City based company created employment throughout the whole SE region.

In addition to the Eishtec news we heard of jobs being created by Bluefin, a company created from Red Hat, which was formally known as Feed Henry. A success story from TSSG, and there have in fact been many recent success stories from this operation and I have no doubt that there will be many more. The TSSG and ArcLabs resource in the WIT Carriganore Campus are literally beavering away creating ideas and future employment. It is a facility that should be more loudly promoted and championed for Waterford City.

As you can read I am extremely positive about any new jobs announcement for Waterford and the wider SE region, though I often do believe that there should be more emphasis put on the actual jobs created and not the projected jobs that might be created. We live in the present and it is present jobs that Waterford and the region require and future jobs are encouraging but far too often the larger number is always produced simply, I feel, to make the announcements “beefier”. After all every single business could project a future employee statistics but just how many of these claims are actually attainable or measured for that matter?

I assume that we are “sold” the value of the IDA’s investment based on these projected figures and I also assume that “grant aid” is based on said larger figure. Though due to the sensitive nature of IDA client discussion we will never really know what grant aid companies actually get or receive. There is no individual breakdown outside of the IDA so it is impossible to find out or estimate. It would be interesting for bodies such as the IDA to release a comparison showing whether or not these projected figures are actually attained or bettered, then we would know if we were getting value for our tax payers Euro. We know that to attract FDI here the IDA have to work very hard and they, I assume, have to be very creative with their grant funding and each FDI get a bespoke grant package that suits their own business model.

The creation of jobs is to be welcomed at all levels but more importantly for Waterford and the SE we need to realise jobs that create enough disposable income so as to have a positive effect on our localised economy. At the present moment in time the SE has one of the lowest disposable incomes in Ireland and that is not good for our economy no matter what spin you place on this argument. The very low disposable income is reflected on websites such as the Pobal Deprivation Index that clearly show Waterford and the SE need jobs that reflect higher wages and therefore higher disposable income spend.  

It is quite simple. If you have €50 of disposable income available a week you can only spend €50 of your disposable income. However, if we all had €500 of disposable income available every week then we would have a burgeoning local economy and our “colour” on the Deprivation Index would be greatly different.

We are lead to believe that the current Government are the party of Small Business and yet I see on a day to day basis very little evidence of this on the ground here in Waterford. For SME’s there are no IDA grants, very little if any EI grants and other grants are difficult to access if your business does not fit a very tight and defined selection criteria. This has to change to allow SME’s to survive and ultimately employ more people, and more importantly employ more people and give them a higher disposable income to spend locally.

To date if you are an SME in Waterford, and the majority of businesses in Ireland are classed as SME’s, there is very little support for you in terms of accessing grant aid or business funding. Yet we see hundreds of millions invested into FDI’s, which is good, but is this at the detriment to others. Surely, we must see a balanced and regional solution to grant aid and ultimately investing in our City’s future. This is not happening and if we are to return “a party of business” to Dáil Éireann at the next election then we must start to hear and read about how they are going to secure SME’s investment funding for our City, County and the greater SE region.

Do we see this Government making it less expensive to run and operate a business? No! Do we see this Government pressing local authorities to significantly reduce Commercial Rates? No! Do we see this Government creating regional solutions that will help Waterford compete with other population centres? No! And yet come to Ireland as a multi-national and we will open our doors to you and give you grants, we will give you money and so on. Really the see-saw of support investment has to be balance and balanced in favour of small business.

Waterford of all the cities in Ireland needs immediate financial help, assistance and with an election on the way you might just see more and more bus loads Ministers coming down the M9/N9 to champion their case for election to the next Government.

Be wise in what you ask them and be even wiser in deciphering what they promise. Will we ever learn from history – well time will tell.

My wee girl goes off to university....what the UL?

I, like many other parents in the last week, have been literally packing a child off to a third level institution. For me, as a first time parent to this process, I have found the whole experience both exciting and a wee bit apprehensive, if the truth be told. After all we do not know if the course or the institution will suit our children and all we can really hope for is that we have made the right decision and the right choices.

My daughter’s first course choice has taken her to the University of Limerick. A university that in 2015 won The Irish Times “Best University” award and as there are only a handful of universities in Ireland I can only assume that this award is shared on a rotational basis.

Having achieved and surpassed the entry qualification points we attended the “induction” or “orientation” day at UL on Tuesday 1^st September. The well travelled road to Limerick is a shocker and a poor reflection on a major trunk route between two of Ireland’s Cities. Two hours after setting off from Waterford we arrived at the stunning UL campus. Thanks to an American philanthropist this has to be one of the most impressive campuses in Ireland. All still relatively new and shinny, with lots of open space, sports facilities to rival any university, and the added bonus of being able to watch the odd Munster player training!

As I was to spend the whole day at UL I took the time to walk, explore and view every corner of the campus. The first thing that struck me was that it was so inspirational to see so many fresh faced young adults starting their next educational journey. There were literally thousands of students orienteering themselves on this day.

I also started totting up the positive economic impact of a university city and from the accommodation figures alone I worked out that around €1.8 million was being spent on the accommodation in my daughters block. This did not take into account any cost of living expenses, travel, entertainment etc etc. The UL campus is plainly generating tens of millions for the university and the local economy and Waterford is missing out on this much need annual cash injection.

For those lucky enough to be able to go on to third level education, getting to university is a very big deal and something that both student and family should be very proud of. I know that it was a day I will be very proud of and yet in the back of my mind I was annoyed that my daughter did not have the chance or the opportunity to go to a university in Waterford City! I have after all been in Waterford City for nearly fifteen years and I had hoped that this issue would have been resolved by now.

Is it not ironic that the City that is promoted as “Ireland’s Oldest” still does NOT have a university of its own?

What have we been doing for the last 1100 years!

The more the day went on the more I had time to reflect on why Waterford City has not yet been designated a University City and why my daughter and so many others like her, have had to figuratively emigrate from their place of residence to attend a university. I feel that it is a shocking indictment that so many are forced to leave and yet we do not hear enough about this annual exodus from our City and County by our own young and talented people. Once gone many will never come back and yes there are economics at play as to where or not they come back but at the very least we need to create a society where they have a choice.

Since returning from the orientation day I have meet so many other parents who feel exactly the same way and I am aware that this ongoing issue has been around now for decades and not just a few years.

Surely, we have to get this issue sorted once and for all.

I am in the camp that says a university in Waterford City would be good for the City, the County and the south east region.

There can be absolutely NO doubt that a University City is perceived to be a much better place to live, invest and educate. And if the existing education institution is worth its salt then moving from a college or a tech or an institute of technology to university status will be a good thing and will be something we could all be proud of. What we do not want is a fudged solution and I fear that is what may well materialise unless we once and for all get our collective act together. It still seems that those people who will ultimately have the final say are working with the “wrong types of bricks” – see last week column and blog!

Yes, our WIT is an excellent technological institution but surely we will ALL be better off as a University City. I do hear people championing and defending institutes of technology and giving shining examples such MIT (in the USA). But let us face facts we are not the US and we will never be the US, so we will never see another MIT outside of MIT.

This ongoing saga has seen many boards of management come and go at WIT and we must hope that the current board will deliver for Waterford when others have not, and that the current board will learn the lessons from previous boards when we were lead to believe that “This was the way to go” then all of a sudden “No, we need to turn full circle and this is now the way to” and so on.

The bottom line is that the clock is very much tricking and the longer we leave this issue the further down the road the ultimate goal will be. My own son is now in third year of secondary school and I fear that he too will have to emigrate to attend a university.

The current government promised a university for Waterford in the current “Programme for Government” and I may be wrong but to deliver on that promise between now and a General Election in April of 2016 seems to be fantasy politics.

Too many generations are missing out, our economy is missing out, and our City is missing out. Surely, this is not rocket science!

Are we using the wrong type of bricks to get the City back on track?

Are we using the wrong type of bricks to get the City back on track?

And to try to explain what I mean I will revert back to my childhood and when we were all “wee bairns” we all played with Lego Bricks, Stickle Bricks, Duplo Bricks and probably Meccano (advanced types of bricks if you like). But what we never did was try to play with them all together or try to create a design that incorporated aspects of multiple differing bricks, as it simply did not work. No matter how hard you tried the Lego was not compatible with the Duplo or the Stickle Bricks and absolutely nothing was compatible with Meccano!

As a child our worlds were completely consumed by one type of building material that suited one specific age group until we were old enough to eagerly move onto something else that suited a completely new older age group.

My own building path went as follows; Stickle Bricks, Lego, Meccano and then Airfix, and I would hazard a bet that many reading this article followed the exact same path – age permitting of course.

This was of course a deliberate ploy by each manufacturer and I am sure that they all agreed in the confines of cosy “Golden-Circles-Boardrooms” that each would target a specific market sector and by ensuring that each construction set was non-compatible with another in the market they could ALL have some market share and of course each would then have a chance to build brand loyalty. What ultimately happened with each of these toys is that you were either a Lego boy or a Meccano boy or Airfix boy and so on. We see this now replicated in the twenty first century but with phone brands – it is either Apple, Samsung, HTC, Nokia, Blackberry and so on.

What has made many toy manufacturers and today’s modern phone suppliers so successful is that they have literally moved heaven and earth to make you the consumer brand loyal. They have ensured that you have made an informed choice to support one particular manufacturer as you have become accustomed to that brands; quality, feel, technology, design, the tactile nature of the product, the way the product make you feel and so on. By sticking to one winning formula that is ever evolving and ever improving, albeit in small increments, they have ensured that you will stick purchasing what you know because you know “It does exactly what is says in the tin.”

So what of brand Waterford and the future development of the City and its City Centre?

There has been much talk and debate in recent weeks around the future Urban Renewal Plans, the North Quays, the Michael Street Shopping Development, the Apple Market Development and of course much debate around the developed Viking Triangle area and access in and out of this area of prime real estate or our most expensive bus park, as some are now calling the area (and with some justification too).

But in terms of moving the City forward I often feel and so do many others that there appears to be very little joined up thinking when it comes to actually developing the City. Or in other words some are Lego users, some are Stickle Brick champions and some are Meccano aficionados.

On the surface we have many, many great and potentially future changing ideas but I and many others do feel that getting them ALL to work together in harmony for the betterment of Waterford citizens will be a monumental task, an impossible task even. One does get the feeling that all the plans we read and hear about are somehow being drafted and discussed in isolated underground bunkers where no other opinion matters for fear of upsetting someone, and as a result we do not get the much needed robust debate and we do not get people willing to put a hand, never mind their head, above the parapet. It is almost as if there is a collective fear around getting involved or perhaps there is a fear that decisions have already been made and no matter what lobbying or interaction takes place the only opinion that matters is the one that comes out of the underground bunker!

I admit that there is concern and apathy from many businesses that despite the circa €33,000,000 paid in commercial rates they will never really be listened to and the citizens of Waterford at times simply feel “What is the point!”

We have yet to build any brand loyalty towards the City and we are ALL confused as we see too many different messages and this ultimately will create confusion, bewilderment, apathy, indifference and so on. The City must start delivering projects in real-time and delivering these in a proper logical order.

So, let us deliver and build the Michael Street shopping centre, then deliver a North Quay development and if we see hundreds of thousands of extra tourists and visitors spending money in the City as a results of these two developments, then have a look at the traffic flow and roads.

But whatever we do we must ALL be using the same type of bricks otherwise nothing will get done.

ENDS

One hell of a ride!

Last weekend was yet another busy weekend right across the City and County.

The wonderful Waterford Walls, one of the BEST projects I have witnessed to date in Waterford City, and the Dunmore East Food Festival both attracted significantly large crowds to the City and village respectfully. And of course we also had the Iverk Show (actually in Kilkenny – but a great event none the less) and the Sean Kelly Cycling Tours.

Now I was lucky enough to get involved in both the Iverk Show and the Sean Kelly Tour, but in very, very different ways!

Mr Sean Kelly joins The Biscuits.

A number of weeks ago, whilst Chairing one of the Waterford Business Group weekly meetings, I agreed with Fiona Quilty (of Pamela Scott fashion outlet in the City Centre) to help her out with the fashion show that takes place during the Iverk Show. Little did I think that I would actually be called upon to take part? My call to participate in the Iverk Show happened last weekend and I duly shuffled the kids into the Mini and we shot up to Piltown, parked the car and reported for duty at 12:30 in plenty of time for my first foray onto the catwalk at 13:00.

The showground was heaving with visitors when we arrived and we found our way to the marquee that would hold the fashion show. There was a flurry of activity backstage in the compact and bijou dressing area. Unfortunately, my contact rider had clearly not been read as I saw absolutely no sign of my requested Yak’s milk refreshments, there were no bowls yellow only M & M’s, no deep fried Mars bars etc. The models were mainly ladies (as one would expect) ranging from teens to more “experienced” models. In terms of the male sex there were three teenagers, a couple of twenty somethings and the three older guys (including me) and we were all strangely the same age, 37 I believe!!!!

We soon realised that our clothes would not arrive in time for the 13:00 show so we had to sit out the first performance, but there was no rest for the wicked as 15:00 duly arrived, our clothes arrived and we were off and walking.

Mean & moody at the Iverk Show!

Two very quick clothes changes and two trips up and down the catwalk, with a wee twirl halfway down, and it was all over. Far too brief and yet very, very enjoyable but unfortunately there were no agents in the audience and so I can discount a future modelling career. My debut in London Fashion Week will have to wait another year.

From Piltown we jumped back into the Mini and we then shot off to Dungarvan to register for the Sean Kelly Tour Comeragh Challenge160km (the tough one!). Having pre-registered some weeks ago I, without any delay, collected my high-vis goodie bag which contained; a snazzy commemorative race jersey, a bottle of water, a couple of flapjacks, a wristband (for food stops) and a bike registration number sticker thing – a registration plate of sorts (Maria McCann take note!). I bumped into the great man himself Mr Sean Kelly at registration and it was so good to see such a high profile personality actually getting “stuck in”. As I returned to the car I had a feeling that I would need far more than a couple of flapjacks and one bottle of water to complete the daunting task that I would take on the very next day.

At precisely 07:45 I and ten other Biscuits set off from Dungarvan on an adventure that would test each and every one of us. Ahead lay 160 kilometres of hills, hills and more hills!!!!! Another packet of Biscuits set off slightly earlier and a whole tin of Biscuits set off slightly later to take on the 100km challenge.

As we shot up The Pike and veered left at Lemybrien we cycled for around 10km with the imposing Mahon Falls, shrouded by black low clouds, taunting us, teasing us and ultimately calling us knowing that we would have to cycle, walk or crawl up this wicked hill at around 120km into the route. It was as though the organisers had shown us a glimpse of the Coliseum before throwing us to lions.   

But our first real challenge would be a wee hill called “Tickincor” at around 55km. Now if you have never heard of this hill go out and find it and try to drive up it, and you will very quickly see just how steep it is and then imaging how hard it is to cycle up the damn thing. I encountered two small problems prior to Tickinor. My “toolkit-saddle-bag” had taken such a battering in the first 45km that the bracket snapped and my Kilted Piper mascot wedged himself in my brakes causing a rather rapid stop and some remedial works. Slightly further on disaster once again stuck as the “toolkit-saddle-bag” once again decided to fall to the ground and this necessitated yet another stop and a MacGyver type fix that thankfully lasted the remainder of the journey.

The “Powers The Pot” was the next hill at around 90km. Whilst grinding up the hill for what seemed like an eternity some comedian spray-painted 3km to go just to remind us how hard the bloody climb was. There was a collective intake of breath, and the odd swear word, when I and my fellow Biscuits crossed this marker and there was a collective realisation that there was a hell of a long way to go to get up this mammoth test of endurance. Up at the top of the “Powers The Pot” the Biscuits regrouped, posed for a few photographs and then we all set off for a quick food stop at Rathgormack before we headed towards the final challenge of the demanding Mahon Falls.

At the top of The Falls.

At around 120km The Falls called us like some cruel Siren would have called the Greek ships to come ever closer to their ultimate doom! Lowest gear selected and with some “Rusty Spokes” ahead of me to chase up The Falls, I dropped my head down, lolly pop in my mouth for energy and I was off. Some hellish 20 odd minutes later it was all over and a quick regroup with my fellow Biscuits, another photograph, and it was “all downhill” to the finish (or so they told me).

No it wasn’t! We still had the 6km or 7km drag up to the mast at the top of the Mama Road.

Mama Road conquered and now it was “mostly downhill” to the finish line in Dungarvan. We had enough in our legs to manage a wee sprint and top speed of 53kph on the borders of Dungarvan.

One final regroup and these 11 Biscuits crossed the line together in, dare I say, perfect cycling formation – it really was Tour de France stuff!. Our wee group had stayed together for 160km of torture, hell, fun, laughs, memories and a sense of accomplishment.

Looking good in Lycra!

Well done to ALL involved. A great event, great company, great event organisation, a great “Packet of Biscuits” and above all a great occasion for Waterford to be VERY proud of.

It was one hell of a ride! Cannot wait for the 2016 SKT.

Today’s Headline is Tomorrows..........

Waterford City's four local newspapers.

I am an avid reader and advocate for people reading, accessing and debating the content of our four local City newspapers. These are a wonderful way to access and keep up to date with ALL the local news headlines, interest stories, business news, charity news, and so on. You can even scan the local newspapers to see if you have been “snapped” by one of our infamous “local paparazzi”!

The role the local newspapers play in our day to day lives cannot be underestimated and with ALL the social media we access over the internet there is a growing threat that handling a newspaper may, in time, become a thing of the past. But at the present moment in time the local newspapers are here to stay and here to spark debate.

Last week our four local newspapers sparked plenty of debate across many a dinner table. With headlines that declared “Daylight Muggings”, “Happy Birthday Thomas Francis”, “Junkie City” and “Hospice Ball Run 2015 another rolling success”. Each headline in its own way trying to grab you the reader’s attention and persuade you to pick up the newspaper and read it cover to cover, and then hand on to someone else so that they can do the same.

Of course headlines are ultimately there to attract your attention and some would say that last week we even had “sensationalised” headlines.

When we do get the odd sensationalised local headline we often see and hear of reactions that spark further animated debate. Yet, I have over the last twelve months read an awful lot of negative national headlines and unfortunately watched national TV coverage of Waterford that has been far more damaging than what we read in our local newspapers last week. But the reaction to our national pillorying is at the very best muted and subdued and I often wonder why that is?

Take the very recent Vincent Browne TV show that showed Waterford City and County in a very bad light across several hours of national TV debate. And yet our response to this was very passive, almost dismissive and trivialised. In fact, I saw very little reaction to the “bad press” we ultimately received to this a TV programme that can be viewed by literally hundreds of thousands of viewers.

The headlines that grabbed most attention last week were of course “Daylight Muggings” and “Junkie City”. Both excellent pieces of investigative journalism and in many ways both articles were highlighting issues that we ALL know exist in the City, and we ALL know are issues that must be addressed in the short, medium and longer term if Waterford City is to flourish.

Whilst I cannot necessarily agree with the headlines, per say, we can all agree that in recent weeks and months we do have issues with drug use and muggings. These two headlines will hopefully encourage debate and ultimately help us find solutions that suit Waterford City.

What we do not want is people trying to find national solutions for our local problems.

As a relatively small City, Waterford does have its issues and when I hear and read about Waterford being compared to other cities or compared to this national average and that national average this makes my blood boil. To be very frank we should not really care about how we stack up against any other City as the only City that matters to us is Waterford. This is, after all, where we choose to live, work and play and therefore those who choose to compare us to other places I always see them as trying to gain some sort of promotional kudos or are in fact trying to simply flex their local wings.

Waterford needs to be mature enough and big enough to have and to hold sound reasonable debate on the issues that are clearly affecting our City. We must be able to take on all comers when it comes to tackling our City’s problems. Highlighting problems is a start and the fact that we now have these issues “outed” for public debate must surely be a good thing for our City to move forward.

I know that many of our City Centre businesses see on a daily basis that issues highlighted last week in the Munster Express and News and Star, and I know that those business owners and their staff and their customers wish to see creative solutions to our City’s issues. We need to see immediate social solutions to help those who clearly need help and we need to see zero tolerance solutions implemented for those who are freely breaking the law.

 

It is often said to me “Is what we have in Waterford City worth protecting and fighting for?”

Yes it is, and as I and many others have chosen to live, work and play in Waterford City we must come together to find solutions to our problems.

Finally, what we cannot do is gag, discourage or stifle our excellent local journalists from being just that. Remember that freedom of speech is a pillar of our democratic society and being able to communicate our own opinion, without censorship, is a headline worth shouting about.

Live Local, Love Local and Shop Local

Selfridges 2015 Christmas Shop!

As you read this article I hope that you, your family, friends, colleagues and business acquaintances have submitted your observations and comments to Waterford Council on the Waterford City Centre Urban Renewal Scheme. The deadline date for submissions was Tuesday 11^th August at 16:00.

I do wonder just how many of us engaged with the process and in fact how many actually made the effort and compiled a written submission, observation or comment?

I do know from the work of the Waterford Business Group that we penned a significant submission of circa 6,000 words that took into account the views, observations and concerns of people right across the City Centre, and also included a significant input from Ferrybank as well. As Chair of the WBG it was felt that we should make that extra effort and create a document that reflects the views of many businesses and citizens of Waterford City. The submission will, in due course, be available to view on the WBG website www.waterfordbusinessgroup.com and we would hope that you might find the time to read our submission.

As we look towards what we hope is a brighter future for Waterford City, and its immediate environment, we must remember that it is essential that we continue to Live Local, Shop Local and Love Local.

In fact we do need to work harder on this process?

Whether that is sourcing local suppliers for your businesses “meat and two veg” or finding a local supplier for your stationary, promotional items, your print, graphic design etc etc. The importance of sourcing locally cannot be lost on any of us.

I read with interests across several local newspapers last week stories and articles about local people who are trying to supply local businesses with their products and services. Whilst I do appreciate that people must find value for money there is often as much value for money to be found locally than there is further afield.

Eoghan Dunphy &
Waterford's finest spuds.

For example Dunphy’s of Annestown is a local grower and supplier of fruit and vegetables to the hospitality industry. The Waterford Viking Triangle has recently launched an “Eat Waterford” promotion with in excess of 25 restaurants and hospitality establishments. But how many of these businesses are actually buying and sourcing locally? In fact are how many of these businesses are even aware that there is a local supplier literally on their doorstep? Surely, more work has to be done on this and a simple awareness campaign to promote local suppliers needs to be put in place.

As an addition to this, I noted a post on social media from Paul Dower, from Waterford In Your Pocket, who recently posted that it would be fantastic to go into a local restaurant or eatery and see listed on the menu that the meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, cheese etc were ALL sourced locally and when paying for his meal Paul would therefore be directly contributing and supporting local indigenous Waterford businesses.

Sometimes it is hard to go down this route and sometimes you have to make that extra special effort if you really wish to make a difference to the community we choose to live, work and play in.

There has always been a misapprehension that buying locally is a byword for having to pay extra for a products or services. I can honestly say that I see tremendous value for money at the moment across many, many industry sectors here in Waterford City and in fact I would go further and say there is currently better value for money locally than there is regionally and nationally.

As we start to see the night’s drawing in and our thoughts start to turn towards Christmas – yes it is just around the corner and as Selfridges in London has opened its Christmas shop it must be true – we must for the last four and a half months of 2015 make a concentrated effort to do our bit and support local suppliers and support local businesses.

The back half of 2015 will be a struggle for our businesses as we see footfall numbers to the City Centre continue to be extremely disappointing and we see a lower disposable income spend across the whole South East region in general.

There can be no better time to get out and pin your colours to the mast and give local businesses your support. During the last few weeks of work with the Waterford Business Group, on the Waterford City Centre Urban Renewal Scheme, we have met significant numbers of worried and concerned business people who fear that we are potentially changing the very fabric of the City Centre for the wrong reasons. If we are to see a brighter future for the City Centre then we ALL need to play our part and we ALL need to get into the City Centre and GET involved.

Of course that means going that extra mile and that means working slightly harder to keep your business local and this of course takes time and effort.

But if it can be done in Dublin, Cork and closer to home in Kilkenny and Wexford why can’t we do the same here in Waterford City?

Waterford Business Group submission link is as follows; www.raincloudwebdesign.com/WBG_Urban_Renewal_Submission_FINAL.pdf