John O’Connell from Stephens Cooke speaking at Annebrook House Hotel

Chamber hosts Budget Breaking Briefing

Members of the local business community gathered in person for this year’s Budget Breaking Briefing, hosted by Mullingar Chamber at the Annebrook House Hotel last Wednesday morning.

They were there to meet one another, and possibly do business, and to digest the news that had been released in the Budget 2022 announcement on Tuesday afternoon by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohue.

The event was sponsored by Jigsaw Better Business - and Aisling Coleman, office manager, Mullingar Chamber, began by welcoming all those attending and thanked businesses for their continued support of the chamber and its initiatives in helping to promote Mullingar.

The summary of Budget 2022, presented by John O’Connell and Joe McDonnell from Stephens Cooke and Associates, summarised the measures that have been put in place for the upcoming year.

Stephens Cooke and Associates had worked late into the night on Tuesday preparing the presentation and on a budget summary booklet that attendees could take away with them after the event.

Minister Peter Burke; John Geoghegan, president of Mullingar Chamber; and Allyson English Jigsaw, director, Better Business.

John Geoghegan, president of Mullingar Chamber, closed the event and spoke about the importance of marketing Mullingar as a place to live and work and acknowledged and credited everything the businesses in the town have done.

"In marketing, a bad product marketed well will sell, and I always felt Mullingar was a good product marketed badly, and we at Mullingar Chamber drive the agenda to market the town well to the best of our abilities.

“Mullingar is already a great town and we need to build on this and help to market it better,” he said.

Mr Geoghegan also thanked Minister Peter Burke and Minister Robert Troy, who were in attendance, for all of their hard work to date.

Mr Geoghegan told those in attendance of the growth of Mullingar Chamber, which has increased its membership 100% this year, and of its work in relation to Columb Barracks, Canal Avenue, Blackhall and on tourism submissions and reviewing the IDA advanced building solution for Ardmore.

He finished the morning by reminding everyone about the Mullingar Gift Vouchers which have been selling all year round, and will generate some €1m for the local economy in 2021. He said that the WinterFest has brought in 50,000 visitors to the town in the years it ran, and the hope is it will do the same again this year.

Louise Kelly, administrator at Mullingar Chamber, and Aisling Coleman, office manager at Mullingar Chamber of Commerce.