Waterford Chamber

A National Procurement Conference will take place on Thursday, 16th February in the Alexander Hotel, Dublin. This event aims to address the issues faced by businesses in winning tenders in Ireland, the UK and across Europe. Among those speaking at the conference will be Minister of State Brian Hayes TD; Vincent Campbell, Head of the National Procurement Service at the Office of Public Works; Alison Riley, Senior Procurement Officer - Hampshire County Council; John Swords, Assistant National Director Procurement Head of Portfolio & Category Management at the HSE; and Declan McDonnell, Head of Procurement at Bord na Móna.

The event is funded by the European Commission and is free to attend. For more information please contact Michelle McHugh on 051 333138 / 087 2897727 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Keeping in tune with the ever evolving technologies in the IT sector, Irish firms are shifting in their thousands towards “cloud computing.” Has yours?

HCS Business Solutions, in association with Waterford Chamber, is delighted to invite you to a FREE lunchtime Cloud seminar that will explore the Practical Applications of the Cloud on Wednesday, 15th February.

This seminar is aimed at business owners / managers and will address the following topics:

• The Cloud and your business – are you ready?
• Cloud computing – how it can make your business better!
• Free lunch provided and opportunity to network

Running order:                   

This event will take place in the Board Room, Waterford Chamber of Commerce, George’s Street, Waterford. This is a free event and places are limited - to secure your place please book with This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 051 872639.

HCS Business Solutions

HCS Business Solutions is recognised as one of the country's leading IT solutions provider to SMEs and the corporate sector.

HCS Business Solutions has developed a new range of IT services, called TechCloud.  By delivering this range of services via the cloud computing delivery model, TechCloud will give businesses access to a public or private “cloud” that will ensure a remote, reliable and transparent IT service resulting in greater uptime and more business stability. 

As Microsoft’s Certified Partner, HCS Business Solutions is committed to the innovative development of cloud solutions to the small and medium sized business markets throughout the South East.

Explore the opportunities for co-operation in the international energy market!

The Enterprise Europe Network Ireland in co-operation with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) is delighted to invite you to attend the first ‘stand-alone’ international Smart Energy Solutions Partnering Event at the Energy Show 2012 on the 28 & 29 March in the RDS, Dublin.

The Smart Energy Solutions Partnering Event aims to bring together Irish and international companies to meet potential co-operation partners in one location over two days with a view to developing business links.  This two day business partnering event is suited to innovative companies in the field of sustainable energy who are looking to trade or partner with international companies.

The Partnering Event takes place during the Energy Show 2012 which is the annual showcase for thousands of energy professionals who want to see the latest sustainable energy technologies on the Irish market.  The theme of the 2012 Show is “Smart Energy Solutions”, highlighting the diversity of energy efficient and renewable energy solutions which are now available to organisations throughout Ireland as we move towards a clean low carbon economy.

The Partnering Event is FREE – pre registration is required. Following registration participants will have the opportunity to request meetings in advance of the event.  An informal evening networking reception will also allow companies to continue to connect following the meetings.

For further information or to register go to;

http://www.b2match.eu/greenb2benergyshow2012/pages/home

May we thank you for all your support during 2011.

Waterford Chamber relies on the subscription payments of its many members and without your support we would not have been able to promote the City, the County and the South East Region in such a positive manner throughout 2011.

Such was the volume of work undertaken by the Chamber throughout 2011 that we received in excess of 300 written press notifications and over 100 radio and television interviews. The Chamber website continues to be one of the most relevant business reference “gateways” for our many members with over 85,000 visitors viewing over 131,000 pages. We simply could not have achieved these impressive statistics without your help.

Waterford Chamber is at the very heart of many of the City’s promotional initiatives and without this Chamber’s influence then many of these initiatives simply would not have been so successful.

For example, the 2011 Christmas In Waterford promotional campaign brought over 531,000 visitors to the City Centre during the week beginning 19th December and over 359,000 visitors to the City Centre during the week beginning 26th December! These statistics were made available through the Destination Waterford City Retail Committee and the City Councils footfall counter system, which was directly introduced via the aforementioned Committee in June 2011.

Waterford Chamber Skillnet continues to be one of the best performing in the country providing over 2,200 quality training days to companies throughout the South East in 2011. The recently launched Job Seekers Support Programme has provided Job Seekers with over 3,700 training days. In addition we were also able to act immediately to help the Talk Talk workers when the news of the closure was announced. To date our Skillnet has provided ex-Talk Talk staff over 1,000 training days. The Chamber also held a Careers Expo in October where over 1,300 people attended the event which was supported by 24 South East based businesses.

Our Enterprise Europe Network continues to deliver many excellent programmes. The recently launched Female Entrepreneur Mentoring Programme saw two Waterford Chamber Members nominated to represent Waterford City and the South East Region and the Public Procurement Programme continues to be hugely popular and successful.

Additional information on some of our many other Chamber activities is attached. Full details on all our many activities are available on the website www.waterfordchamber.ie and are also available through our weekly newsletter, which is circulated every Thursday to the thousands of individual member contacts on our database.

For 2012 the Chamber has introduced a number of payment incentives for the payment of your 2012 subscription and these are as follows:

• A 10% discount on the subscription rate if paid in full before 31st January 2012
• A 5% discount on the subscription rates if paid in full before 29th February 2012
• The option to pay you subscription in six equal installments starting in February 2012 with the final payment in July 2012

The staff members are also here to help, so please feel free to contact us at any time:

• Michael Lynagh – Chamber Membership, Certificates of Origin, Website, Newsletter, General Enquiries
• Sheila Quinn – Event Management, Event Sponsorship, General Enquiries
• Waterford Chamber Skillnet – Trish Breen & Sara Mullally
• European Enterprise Network – Michelle McHugh

We are aware that 2012 will be another tough year. But our many successes in 2011 do show that by working together and in partnership we can ensure that Waterford City, Waterford County and the South East Region will have real relevance throughout 2012.

As a final note may I take this opportunity to thank you again for all your support and your significant involvement throughout 2011. As a member based organisation we do rely on your time and effort to help us successfully connect businesses and influence decisions makers.

The Chamber is part of your team! Work with us and 2012 will be better for all of us!

Yours sincerely,

Michael Garland
CEO, Waterford Chamber

Waterford Chamber is offering a 10% reduction for all members who pay their subscription before 31st January 2012, and a 5% reduction for paying before 29th February 2012.

Membership fees are based on the number of employees in a company. The fees for 2012 are listed below and are inclusive of VAT at 23%. Our membership year runs from January to December so the membership fee for businesses who join during the year is pro-rata.

 Membership Application Form