Waterford Chamber

Upcoming EEN Events

On May 8th 2008 Minister for Innovation Policy, Michael Ahern T.D, will launch the Enterprise Europe Network in Ireland, a new and extensive European business and technology partnering network for companies. The Irish consortium, known as EEN Ireland, responsible for delivering the services of the Enterprise Europe Network in Ireland consists of Enterprise Ireland and the Chambers of Commerce in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Sligo and Waterford.  You can contact your local Enterprise Europe Network by calling Michelle McHugh on 051 311138 or emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Waterford Chamber and The South East Enterprise Network will run two Information Sessions on EU Funding for Community Organisations during the month of May. The first of these sessions will take place in Garter Lane on Tuesday 20th of May 2008 and will be run in conjunction with the Waterford City Community Forum. The second Information Session will take place on Thursday May 22nd at the Park Hotel Dungarvan and will be run in conjunction with Dungarvan Chamber and Waterford County Community Forum. These information sessions offer practical information regarding funding for community projects and initiatives. For further information please Michelle McHugh.

Past Events

The South-East Enterprise Europe Network is proud to have supported two EU themed Seminars run in Waterford during the month of April. The first of these Seminars was run in partnership with FAS and focused on the theme of EU Funding Opportunities for Irish SME’s. The seminar was made up of a presentation and question and answer session facilitated by Dr. Ted O’Keeffe, Directorate General for Research and Technological Development, European Commission, Brussels and also included address by Minister for Family and Social Affairs, Martin Cullen TD. The event offered practical information and guidance to SME’s interested in making applications for EU funding and it is hoped that there will be follow up events to offer further support to SME’s. The second of these seminars CSR4U was held in conjunction with Waterford City Enterprise Board on April 16th last. The seminar was attended by over 100 people and sought to explain how Small and Medium Enterprises can benefit from positive community and environmental interactions and how larger organisations can work with their suppliers to promote CSR throughout the entire business community.

In follow up to this event Waterford Chamber and the Enterprise Europe Network hope to continue our work in the promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility.

End of Year Report

2007 has once again been a busy year for the South-East European Information Centre, with an increase in the number of queries made to the centre and the completion of a wide ranging number of European Commission funded projects. These projects included the Rural Waterways Project, an EU funded project which focused on tourism around Waterway regions in a number of European countries including Waterford. Our second Major project to finish was the Corporate Social Responsibility Project which ran for over eighteen months, focusing on the promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility to businesses throughout the region.

The EIC also saw an increase in the number of queries received through the year. Unfortunately these queries included a large number of requests for information and assistance from businesses who have fallen fouled to so called marketing scams, put simply these scams usually involve an unsuspecting business person/employee signing up to an expensive marketing scheme by simply signing their signature to a document that they have mistaken for a survey. The EIC is here to offer advice and assistance with any queries regarding such scams and we are also available to help with many other queries\related to ding business in Europe, European legislation, EU funding and many more issues, please contact Michelle McHugh on 51 311138 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Finally the staff of the South-East EIC would like to wish all our colleagues and clients a very happy Christmas and a prosperous new year and look forward to continuing our work in 2008.

Directory Scams to come under scrutiny of European Parliament

The South-East Euro Info Centre hosted by Waterford Chamber has learnt that the European Parliament has agreed to produce its own report into the impact of the dubious business practices employed by some Directory Publishers on European citizens and businesses. This follows years of concerted efforts by the Euro Info Centre to have the issue of unscrupulous activities by directories such as European City Guide (ECG) dealt with European level.

The initiative for this report is being led by Mairead McGuinness MEP who has repeatedly raised the issue with the European Commission but who have so far appeared unwilling to take any meaningful action. This report is now being produced to pressurise the Commission into initiating the type of legislative change that would outlaw the types of business practices that ECG has engaged in.

The ECG directory has been the cause of significant financial and emotional distress to businesses and citizens throughout Ireland / South-east. The problem with this directory centres on the use of a misleading form which asks receivers to “update their data for free” for inclusion in the ECG Directory, however the small type at the bottom of the document includes a contract for insertion of the data in the directory for a 3-year period at a cost of €817 per year.  Whilst the contract is legal in so far as the conditions are mentioned, the wording used and the layout of the form are very misleading.

As part of her report, Mairead McGuinness would like to hear the views and experiences of those affected by this particular directory. If you have been targeted by the European City Guide please contact Michelle McHugh at Waterford Chamber Euro Info Centre at 051 311138 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  to report your experience.