Senior ministers attend Chamber Budget Breakfast

Mullingar Chamber normally run their budget breakfast briefing the morning after the announcement, but this year they took advantage of the finance minister being in the town for a Fine Gael think-in and held it on the second morning of that event.

That was Tuesday September 9, and Minister Paschal Donohoe attended the event at Bloomfield House Hotel and sponsored by Ardonagh. Local minister, Peter Burke was also present.

Mullingar Chamber president, James Bourke, expressed his gratitude to the minister, and said: “His time is limited in the lead-up to Budget 2026, so we appreciate him joining us and engaging with the business community here in Mullingar.

Addressing the gathering, he said: “We would have previously run this event on the morning after the budget but with a gathering like this, we offer our members the opportunity to bring issues forward while the decisions on Budget 2026 are still being made.

“Businesses in various industries are facing a range of challenges at the moment, so we hope this budget can ease pressure. Within the current government, we have seen a huge amount of work around the area of infrastructure development, with huge spending planned under the National Development Plan.

“We hope this investment in our future infrastructure will continue, as it will ensure our country is competitive for years to come.”

Speaking after the budget breakfast, Mr Bourke said it was great to have so many local business people in the room.

“We had a great Q&A session with the minister that I found insightful. Something we always aim to facilitate in our events is networking and we saw plenty of that also.

“I’d like to sincerely thank The Ardonagh Group for partnering with us and sponsoring this event. They are a great local employer and their support of our local business community is to be commended.”

More than 170 guests were present at the event.