New Chamber President

30/03/2010

Press Release

30th March 2010

Kieran Mac Sweeney New President of Limerick Chamber

Kieran Mac Sweeney, Consulting Partner of the Discovery Partnership and former MD and Senior Vice President of Avocent International, has been elected the new President of Limerick Chamber.  Mr. Mac Sweeney formally took over the reins from outgoing President Harry Fehily in March.
Speaking about his priorities for his year ahead, the new President said “These are certainly very worrying times for anyone in business and the focus must now be on finding the solutions not on the problems.  Now more than ever the business community in this region needs a strong voice to ensure its views are properly represented.  The priorities and strategic direction of the Chamber will represent what is in the best interests for the business community, our members and the economic well being of our region.”

“There is a clear need for better government focus on supporting SME’s.  Growing small companies will be essential to generating wealth and jobs in this country in the next few years and the Chamber intends to drive and support initiatives aimed at that sector including increased funding from our banks.  Government policy must at all costs support the productive, tax generating sectors of this economy as they seek to cut costs, sustain employment, survive and position themselves for the upturn when it eventually comes.” Mr. Mac Sweeney said.

“The Chamber has been lobbying for a resolution to the Local Governance issue in Limerick for many years as the current situation has been negatively affecting business in the City and has seriously threatened the competitiveness of the entire region.  The establishment in February of the Limerick Local Government Committee chaired by Denis Brosnan is a very significant development for the region and the Chamber will be making a strong submission to this group on behalf of our members.  We are a City and County Chamber with a catchment area and membership that covers the entire Mid-West so our focus will be on what structure will best serve our City, County and our Region.”

“One of the biggest issues facing the Region is the competitiveness of our City Centre.  Vibrant and attractive Cities act as drivers for investment and are catalysts for economic growth throughout the region.  This will be one of our key priorities for the year and we have been busy engaging with city traders, the Council and key stakeholders in the city to come up with short and medium term measures that focus specifically on reviving the City Centre.  Our primary focus is on the short term measures around litter, parking, rates and security but we are also focusing on ways to bring fresh investment into the City.” Mr. Mac Sweeney continued.   

“In addition to bringing in big name retailers to increase footfall we also need to play to our strengths and encourage more grass roots, bottom up, artistic/creative kinds of development as the way forward.  Limerick has fantastic locally owned boutiques, high quality restaurants and coffee shops and it is this uniqueness that we need to focus on and develop as this will make our City stand out.  The Chamber is also intent on identifying a high profile international scale festival that will put us on the world map and will showcase the wealth of creative and artistic talent we have.”

The Chamber President then went on to outline his other priorities for his term in office, “Shannon Airport, as a key driver of investment to the Region will always be high on our list and while Customs Pre-Clearance has opened up some very significant opportunities and advantages we are very concerned about the reduction in services and passenger numbers at the airport.  If we are to attract investment into the region and retain existing jobs we must have an international airport with strong transatlantic and European connections.  Other issues such as job creation, training and upskilling our people, helping to develop strategic partnerships for our city and region, improving our infrastructure and developing the full potential of deep sea facilities in the Shannon Estuary will always be on the Chamber agenda.”

“Finally as part of the Chamber’s ongoing effort to improve communication with our membership and the wider business community the Office of President of the Chamber will issue a weekly Blog outlining and updating progress on the various initiatives that I have outlined.  This Blog will also create a platform for additional input and debate.  We encourage people to log on to the Limerick Chamber President's Blog to track our progress and also give us their views on the work we are doing.”  Mr. Mac Sweeney concluded.

Kieran is currently Consulting Partner with The Discovery Partnership where he advises and works in close partnership with owners and executives of small to medium sized companies to facilitate change, to help them expand into new markets, help them develop strategic business plans, trouble-shooting problems, developing staff, team building, acquisitions and integrations and helping them realise the true potential that exists individually and within their  teams and their organizations.  He is a native of Limerick City where he grew up in St Patrick’s Road, Ballysimon.  Kieran is married to Annette and has a daughter Michelle who is working in Genworth in Shannon and a son Stephen who is a student in LIT.

- ends -

Further information:
Kieran has extensive experience spanning 30 years with high growth US multinational and start-up companies including Avocent International, Cybex International, Intel, Wang Laboratories and Maidenform International.  Kieran was also appointed Chairman of Foynes Port Company in 1998 and was then appointed Chairman of the merged Shannon and Foynes Port Company where he served until 2008.  Kieran is also past-president of IBEC Mid-West and past-Chairman of AmCham Mid-West.  He is a founding member of the Atlantic Technology Corridor and he is a former chairman of Meet Limerick Shannon an conference and sporting bureau.  Kieran is also on the advisory board of the Kemmy Business School. 

For information contact:
Maria Kelly
CEO
Limerick Chamber of Commerce
Tel: 061 217609
mkelly@limerickchamber.ie