“Hello, is this Florence?”; (Why do places like banks always call me Florence) “Yes…”; “This is X, from Y Bank.  Just to let you know calls may be recorded for training and quality purposes.”  (Allure of the shiny red button commences at this point.)

No, calls are recorded to screw you later if you say anything they need to rely on or to stop you from going apeshit on the phone because you know the call’s being recorded and they might play it back at you afterwards.  But anyway, they’ve called me out of the blue from a blocked number and they’re recording my call; such a nice start…

“So, Florence I just need to ask you a couple of security questions?”; “Huh…”

Wait a minute: YOU called ME. You must know who I am. (Red button glows ever more seductively.)

But it seems easier to just go with it: my mother’s cousin’s sister in law’s maiden name was Kowalski, my favourite pet was an Iguana named Frank and the other joint holder on the account is the daughter of the former Minister of the Interior of Nigeria (and a trusted friend!)

So now we’ve got the housekeeping out of the way, let’s all settle back and enjoy the call. I’m wondering what this is all about; I haven’t done anything with this bank for years.

In fact I don’t have any actual money in any banks, they just store a bunch of red numbers on my behalf and threatened to take my house away if I don’t keep up the payments.

“Well, Florence you have these two accounts here, one with 12c and the other with €2.37” (I am not making this up, these are the actual amounts.)

(Red button screams at me “PRESS ME DAMN YOU. CALL YOURSELF A MAN?”)  But I persist, I’ve answered all of the security questions now and I’m committed after all.

“If you like I can close the accounts and send you a bank draft.” Great, you’re going to send me a financial instrument that some other bank is probably going to charge me more than its face value to negotiate and I’m going to have to take time off work to go to the counter to do all of this. I don’t remember giving you a mandate to make withdrawals from my account over the phone.  But, whatever, just get this over with…

AT LAST!… *bright shiny red button*…*press*….AHHH….

Two things strike me about this interaction:

1. The banks must have serious issues on Data Protection. They’re bending over backwards now to make themselves compliant but there’s got to be a lot of messy stuff in the past, particularly before everything tanked.

2. Just because you feel emotionally committed to a process doesn’t necessarily mean you should continue with it. Litigation is like this, you’ve suffered a loss and you feel you must recover it. But the process only makes sense if you’re going to get back more than you put in. Don’t go throwing good money after bad. Always do a cost-benefit analysis based on what you are likely to get in the future not based on what you have put in the past; that’s gone.

Or at least you may think lawyers everywhere should by crying into their cornflakes this morning when you see the decision of the Taxing Master in the Fr Kevin Reynolds libel case. I certainly was, but maybe not for the reasons you think.

The Taxing Master is the man who decides what the loser’s side should pay the winner’s side after a court case. The solicitor’s fee claimed in the case has been now been reduced from €275,000 to €80,000 and the barristers have had similar reductions made to the fees they charged.

RTE’s “Mission to Prey” programme alleged that Fr Reynolds raped a girl in Nigeria who fathered a child by him. It would have been awful, if it were true.

The Fr Kevin Reynolds libel case is one of the worst examples of that particular genre. Libel (or defamation) is when you say something about someone that is not true and damages their reputation. As reputation damaging statements go this one was the Daddy.

But usually the problem in defamation cases is proof. It can often be a question of subjective interpretation; what would someone hearing or reading the words have understood them to mean.

Not so in this case. Either he was the Daddy or he wasn’t. And the reason I’m shedding a tear this morning is because that is exactly what Fr Reynolds and his lawyers offered to demonstrate to RTE before the programme was aired.

His solicitors wrote to the programme producers and said that he would take a paternity test to prove that he was not the father of the child. You couldn’t have had a more definitive answer to the question.

This very reasonable offer was not taken up, the programme was aired. As a result RTE ended up making a reported €1 million settlement with Fr Reynolds and they have been hit with a €200,000 fine by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

They now have a legal costs bill which will now probably amount to another couple of hundred thousand euro by the time you include all the trimmings.

If the people dealing with this at the time had read the letter from the solicitors and said to themselves “You know lads, this guy might have a point. Shouldn’t we check this out first?” the legal bill would have been zero and there wouldn’t have been a settlement or a fine.

I’m not shedding a tear because of the reduction, I’m shedding a tear because as a tax payer funding this public service broadcaster I’m picking up the tab.

A tab which could have been avoided by taking a bit sound and common sense advice when it actually mattered.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/solicitors-legal-bill-slashed-by-195000-3110818.html

But Garrett McNamara has just entered the Guinness Book of records for riding a 78ft wave.

Narly! eh? It just looks insane to me, but then I’m not a surfer. But McNamara’s a pro; he’s been surfing since he was 11 and has been a professional since he was 17, he’s now 44.

So what you see gliding across the top of that wall of water is 27 years of experienced professional doing what comes naturally to him, not because he was born to do it, but because he has made himself a master of his craft.

He wasn’t planning to surf that day but when he went out “Everything came together. Everything felt right.” So what may appear daunting to you or me, was all in a day’s work for him. But I think we’ll have to concede that even by his standards, this was a particularly good one.

Many things we face in life can appear overwhelming, but to a professional with the right skills and experience what might seem an impossible task to you may just be another day at the office.

You can watch the clip here.

But while I didn’t need a card in the end, there are some hilarious examples online of what Mother’s Day cards might be like if they were honest.

My particular favourite is a kid’s home-made one that reads: “Happy Mother’s Day (By the way, I made a huge mess making this card. Broom’s in the kitchen. Chop chop.)”

I’ve got 5 kids from 10 down to 3, so I know all about cleaning up after huge messes. In fact shouting and cleaning up messes pretty much sums up my life when I think about it.

Dealing with the messes our kids create is part of what being a parent is all about. But it always amazes me how few people consider what a mess they would leave for their kids if they died without having made a will. That isn’t a mess anyone should have to clean up, least of all the people you love the most.

If it were a particularly difficult, time consuming or expensive thing to do, then it might be understandable that people don’t do it. But when it’s none of those things and you consider the alternative, the cost benefit analysis is pretty compelling.

Don’t leave a mess behind you, even if you’re not planning on going any time soon.

You can check out the cards here: http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_367_if-mothers-day-cards-were-honest/

It was my first time getting first hand experience of the excellent work done by this organisation and I was really impressed by the stories of the clients of Co-Action and their families that we heard throughout the night.  Great credit must go to the dedicated staff, officers, volunteers, parents and families who make everything in that organisation happen in times of economic cutbacks on every front.

Succession planning for parents of children with disabilities is a very large topic and the AGM last night had a very full agenda.  Therefore, it was only possible to scratch the surface and give a very basic introduction at last night’s event.  My main theme was one of my regular ones: no matter what else, if  you haven’t got a will stop thinking about it or talking about it, do it and make one now.  If you have made a will but it’s long since out of date, update it and make sure it covers what you (and the people you care about) really need.

We decided that if there was sufficient interest we would organise a future seminar for parents of Co-Action clients dedicated to this topic.  There was a sign in sheet for parents there on the night, but if you weren’t able to make it and you would like to be notified of any future seminars on wills and trusts or would like to receive more information, please subscribe to our mailing list below and I’ll keep you posted.

I would like to thanks Emma Smith and Maurice Walsh of Co-Action for inviting me to speak at the AGM.

I have put the text on which my presentation was based below.

Introduction to Wills, Trusts and Future Planning for People with Intellectual Disabilities/Autism

Co-Action AGM, O’Donovan’s Hotel, Clonakilty, Tuestday 8th May 2012, 8.00pm

I was very honoured to be asked here to speak to you this evening by Maurice and Emma. I know you have a busy AGM and I won’t keep you long. In arranging this talk Emma and I agreed that the best thing to do would be to arrange a dedicated evening seminar to deal with the topic in a bit more detail in the coming months, as we don’t have time to get into it this evening. So, we will pass around a sheet and if you would be interested in more information, please put down your name and e-mail address and we’ll keep you posted on when we arrange the seminar.

I’ve been thinking about wills a lot lately, it’s an occupational hazard. But wills are things that people don’t want to think about. It’s morbid, nobody wants to think about what happens when we die and it’s a subject people don’t often want to listen to someone speak about. I don’t get asked to do this often, and it’s not surprising really; nobody wants the grim reaper as an after dinner speaker!

But I don’t think of making wills as being about death. We don’t have any control over whether we are going to die and we have very little control over when we will die. However, we do have a lot of control over what happens to our stuff and the people we care about when we die. Now I don’t know about you, but I find things that I don’t have control over can be some of the most stressful things in life and sources of great anxiety for me. Therefore, when there are things that we do have control over, I believe that we should (and indeed that we have a responsibility to) take action and take that control.

If something is there as a source of anxiety; in there in the back of your mind: it keeps coming back to the surface. Perhaps not all the time but every so often in a quiet moment it pops into your head; you can’t do anything about it and you start worrying about it. By making a will you take one of those anxieties and you deal with it. It’s gone as something to worry about and it frees you up to get on with enjoying your life in that all important period between now and the day the will is read.

So taking action is essential and doing something is infinitely better than doing nothing. Making a will is the first step. But when you are caring for people with disabilities or autism, a will on its own may not be enough. In your will you will need a trust. And in this context, there are effectively three types of trusts. Now I said I won’t bore you with technical details this evening, but I will explain briefly what I am talking about.

The first type of trust is a bare trust. One person, call a trustee, holds assets or property on trust for another person or group of people call the beneficiaries. The ownership is fixed. The beneficiaries are the people entitled to the assets of the trust in shares that have been fixed by the person who created the trust either equally or unequally. The trustee has no control over how the trust fund is divided, he or she is simply there to see that it is done properly in accordance with the provisions of the trust.

The second type of trust is a discretionary trust. In a discretionary trust there are no beneficiaries at the outset. The trust is set up in such a way that a defined group of people, called the objects, are the only people who can benefit from the trust. They are potential beneficiaries, but they do not receive anything unless and until the trustees exercise their discretion in their favour. In a discretionary trust, the assets placed in the trust are suspended in the trust until the trustees appoint or pay out the assets in favour of one of the objects at which point they become a beneficiary.

The third type of trust is a hybrid of the first two types and is conversion trust. This is a discretionary trust which converts to a fixed trust at a given point in time or on the occurrence of a certain event, such as when all the potential beneficiaries reach a certain age.

For the purposes of what we are talking about this evening, in my view by far the most suitable trust is the discretionary trust. And while the concept of a trust is a very simple one, the execution can become technical and complex and has to be planned and put in place carefully. While doing something about it will nearly always be better than doing nothing, a badly set up trust can store up significant problems down the line.

One example of the advantages of a discretionary trust that immediately strikes you in this context is the area of social welfare entitlements. A significant bequest to a beneficiary which arises automatically because someone hasn’t’ made a will or because a will gives a beneficiary an entitlement in absolute terms whether through a trust or otherwise, will be an asset in the name of that beneficiary for the purposes of a means test. This can result in a beneficiary losing out on means tested entitlements such as medical cards or other allowances when the benefits received are not sufficient to replace what has been lost.

However, a person named as an object in a discretionary trust has not taken any benefit and does not have any interest in the assets forming part of the trust unless it is given to them by the trustees. A trustee of a discretionary trust can manage the trust fund to ensure that the beneficiary receives what he or she requires on an on-going basis but is never in receipt of substantial assets or payments that might interfere with other entitlements.

On a cautionary note, I should mention that discretionary trusts can be subject to discretionary trust tax. In fact discretionary trusts are also used for tax planning purposes because of their flexible nature. There is an exemption from discretionary trust tax where the potential beneficiary is unable to look after their own affairs. But this exemption can easily be lost if the trust is not established correctly and if other potential beneficiaries are also capable of participating in the trust fund.

When we consider the flexible nature of discretionary trusts, what you are really talking about is putting something in place that has the capacity to adapt to future circumstances as you yourself might have done. And in this context the role of trustee is critically important. The people you appoint as trustees have to be people who you can trust to deal with the unforeseen eventualities that the future may hold.

But if the trust is set up correctly they will not be alone in doing this. You will have provided them with a letter of wishes, which though not legally binding will be very helpful and influential in their future decision making. In fact, in talking with Emma and Maurice in preparing for this evening I became aware of the excellent advocacy work that Co-Action is doing on behalf of clients. The role of trustees and the letters of wishes to be written to trustees could learn a lot from this advocacy and could incorporate provisions to consult with advocates in making decisions in the future.

In selecting trustees careful consideration has to be given to the potential for future conflicts of interest. The job of a trustee can be difficult enough without having to balance their own interests in the equation. A conflict of interest can arise by default if a trustee is a family member who stands to benefit when the trust is eventually wound up. The potentials for conflicts of interest needs to be managed sensitively but decisively when selecting trustees and structuring a trust, in order to avoid problems in later years.

So, in summary, if you haven’t got a will make one now, if you have a will review it to make sure it provides those that will come after you with security. But don’t put off the task or approach it as something that you’ve got to do in contemplation of death, do it as something that will give you the peace of mind to live your life to the full in meantime.

I have only been able to scratch the surface of this area in this short presentation and I do not wish to bore you in your busy AGM this evening. So if this is something you would have an interest in learning more about or attending a dedicated seminar on this subject, please put your name and e-mail address on the sheet we are passing around and give it back to Emma and we will get in touch as soon as we organise future events.

Thank you for listening.

If you didn’t get a chance to put your name on the list at the AGM but you would be interested in being notified of future seminars or receiving further information, please subscribing to our mailing list below.

Florence McCarthy LLM, CTA, TEP is managing partner in McCarthy & Co., Solicitors Clonakilty. As well as being a qualified solicitor with over 15 years’ experience he is a registered Chartered Tax Adviser with the Institute of Taxation in Ireland and a registered Trust and Estate Practitioner with the London based Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. He specialises in the areas of trust, estate and succession planning and commercial law.

Pat O’Connell from Kay O’Connell’s Fish Merchants gave an impassioned speech about the importance of supporting small local food businesses.  Peter Ward from Country Choice gave an excellent talk on the significance and potential of the Irish middle farm and developing food and agri tourism in support of on farm business.  Ger Power of Cork County Council, along with the County Manager, outlined some really encouraging supports that Cork County Council is providing to food business.  Kevin O’Gorman of Irish Distillers gave us an insight into the success story that is that company, which is an extraordinary good news story for East Cork.  Colette Twomey told us how the Clonakilty Blackpudding brand came from small beginnings to the major international brand that it now is.  And John O’Brien brought us from Barryroe Co-op’s first creamery manager who was a 26 year old veteran of the Civil War to the phenomenally successful international food ingredients business that is Carbery Milk Products today.

Professor Alan Reilly gave us some excellent examples of how FSAI is using multi-media to inform businesses of how they can be compliant and providing them with easy to use systems to make it easy for them to do so.  Dr Pat Wall opened and closed the event with his usual mix of insight and humour.  He gave us a lot to think about in terms of the future of food and agri business and provided a fascinating report on the recent trade delegation to China of which he was a part.

Overall, it was a really thought provoking conference.  The big thing that I took away from the day was the importance of integrating tourism with food.  This has so much potential, Peter Ward talked about visiting vineyards in California; they’re just farms after all, we’ve got those in abundance combined with some of the greatest scenery in the world.

The topic I chose for the day was Exporting Know How: Opportunity is Ireland’s Regulatory Opportunity.   I’ve posted the text of my presentation below:

“Exporting Know How”: Opportunity in Ireland’s Regulatory Opportunity.

I’m here in my capacity as Chairman of Clonakilty Chamber of Commerce and as a lawyer with a special interest in the area of food law. But I’m also here because the speaker that they really wanted to get is in China!

But the fact that I’m here because of a speaker being committed to a Chinese engagement is really significant. Think about it, how often would you have heard that as a reason somebody couldn’t make it five years ago.

And it’s extremely encouraging. The obvious commitment of the government to establishing links with China and the vigour with which Irish business have embraced the opportunity that is China give great grounds for optimism. But in order to be placed to avail of this opportunity we have to prepare and consider how we might do so.

The thing that most strikes anyone about China is its scale; there are 20 cities with a population greater than Ireland, the population is almost 3 times that of the EU and more than 4 times greater than that of the USA.

So in terms of a target market for the supply of the food this country produces the opportunity presented by China is practically limitless. But we cannot produce on this scale and therefore we need to choose our niche, the premium end of the market is one possibility.

Ireland has the potential to develop a premium luxury food brand in China. And the Chinese are coming here to see how we do it. The visit of Chinese Vice President to a Co. Clare farm in February on his only stop in Europe is extremely significant. We have since seen a massive investment in the bloodstock industry in China based on Irish know how.

Dr Pat Wall has been leading the way in hosting groups of Chinese students keen to come and learn Irish skills in animal husbandry and food production. The deal recently announced between UCD a major Chinese Dairy producer is one example of this.

This is one of the most valuable exports we have to this vast Chinese market – know how. And this brings me to my own area of specialist knowledge, law. The integrity behind this premium luxury food brand is based on quality which is backed up by regulation. But things like quality, taste and provenance only get to the starting blocks if the brand is fundamentally safe.

We’ve had some big calls on food safety in recent years. The pork dioxin recall was one of those, that was a really big call made by Irish regulators. It was huge call and it was the right call, it saved Ireland’s bacon. And I had some personal skin in this particular game. The night of Saturday 6th December 2008 was the night of the West Cork Bar Association Christmas party. I awoke on the Sunday morning with a particularly sore head craving a bacon sandwich. I went to the chill counter of our excellent local Scally’s Supervalu in Clonakilty to find the shelves cleared of pork products overnight. Never mind the economic ramifications for the country, that was a devastating moment for me personally!

But that call, made as swiftly and as universally as it was, meant that Irish pork was back on the shelves and, more importantly, trusted within a very short period of time. Other jurisdictions have found that when they fudged it, they damaged the integrity of their brand based on food safety.

The decision to re-introduce of the ban on raw milk has been controversial here in recent times and the position taken by the Minister on the basis of the advice from our regulators has been the subject of some vocal criticism. But decisions like these have to be seen in the context the international market for Irish milk powder in infant milk production, one in five infant formula feeds produced globally are made from Irish milk.

Irish regulation is European regulation. The Irish government’s strategic vision is to develop Ireland as a platform for China in Europe. Our know-how in terms of our regulatory framework and the implementation of that regulation in high quality premium food production is a valuable asset available for export. Chinese inward investment in Europe will need to understand our regulatory framework and Chinese domestic production will seek to learn from it. Pat has been showing us by example how we can lead the way in this.

Minister Simon Coveney launched an event for us a Clonakilty Chamber of Commerce on 2nd April, an event which I am delighted to say was extremely well supported by our leading food production businesses. Colette Twomey’s company is one of the main sponsors and we had representatives other leading food businesses such as Carbery Milk Products, Irish Yogurts and Scally’s Supervalu. As a result of a conversation that took place at the event one of our members was invited to travel with the Minister on a trade delegation to China. One of the food producers I spoke to at the event talked about the idea of Irish food businesses setting up production in China where they would control what he called the “black box”, the know-how which gives the production it’s integrity and quality. A big part of the know-how in that black box will be food safety regulation and Irish lawyers and regulators should be leading the way in developing this.

In the course of its emergence as a developed economy, China is facing many challenges which have already been encountered – and are still being grappled with – by the stakeholders in the European unification project.

Both entities have large diverse cultural groupings under their governance, with the result that each has to deal with a very great diversity of food products and cooking practices. How the European Union has managed (or some would say failed) to impose a regulatory regime which ensures that consumer safety is put to the fore without impeding culinary creativity and cultural expression is something the Chinese authorities could take stock from.

The road which food safety law has travelled since the establishment of the European common market should also provide some salutary lessons to the Chinese. When the Treaty of Rome was adopted in 1957 there was no reference to consumer protection or public health. Instead, Article 3 was concerned with the elimination of barriers to trade and the abolition of obstacles to the free movement of goods, including foodstuffs.

For quite some considerable time the European Union’s approach to food law was driven virtually exclusively by commercial and market integration considerations. Then came the BSE calamity in the early 1990s. The crisis in consumer confidence left in its wake meant that EU legislators found themselves having to conduct a root-and-branch review of how EU food law had developed. Numerous other food scares, such as the Belgian dioxin scare in 2000 and the Spanish pomace oil recall in 2001, reaffirmed the need for effective safeguarding of consumer safety.

That the EU had learnt its lesson from this sequence of debacles and had taken measures to address prior shortcomings became clear in July of 2002 when the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed was activated after concerns that certain dangerous hormones had made their way into the food chain.

Our own experience in relation to pork dioxins in 2008 means that both the regulators and the regulated in this country have hands-on experience and knowledge of how a food scare is quelled effectively.

While, due to restrictions on civil liberties and media freedom, we cannot be completely certain as to the state of mind of your average Chinese consumer, we have heard of horror stories where the use of adulterants in foodstuffs has caused significant fatalities and it is safe to assume that, with an ever increasing middle class, the level of sophistication and discernment of a large cohort of food consumers in China is increasing apace.

It is therefore safe to assume that there will be a demand for the adoption of principles underpinning the regulation of food law which have emerged in the European Union in latter years. In this regard, the general principles espoused in Regulation 178/2002 will no doubt prove extremely instructive. These principles include the obligations on all food producers throughout the food chain to produce safe food and to have in place comprehensive traceability systems so that product recalls are a meaningful and effective prophylactic measure in the event of a food crisis.

Regulation 178/2002:

• Establishes the rights of consumers to safe food and to accurate and honest information to enable them to choose a healthy diet.

• Determines that regulations shall be underpinned by risk analysis carried out with reliable scientific techniques which are independent, objective and transparent.

• Establishes ‘the Precautionary Principle’ meaning that risk managers may take measures to protect human health where there is a concern in this regard but the scientific information available is not conclusive.

• Imposes rules to ensure traceability throughout the entire food production system.

• Places the primary responsibility for ensuring compliance with food law with food businesses.

• Provides that food should not be placed on the market if (i) it is injurious to health; or (ii) it is unfit for human consumption.

• Established the Rapid Alert System for Food & Feed (RASFF) which revamped the Rapid Alert System as it was not seen as fit for purpose. The Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) operate this system in times of food emergencies.

If elements of the European experience in developing a regulatory framework for food safety are to be replicated in China, we will also see a profound divergence between those producers who seek to increase their output massively by the exploitation of modern equipment technologies and those producers who seek instead not to compete on this giant level but to identify niches for high quality, value-added products and to develop a reputation for excellence in the production of these. It is surely in this area that Irish producers and their regulatory advisers can excel in sharing their know-how and experience to their Chinese counterparts.

The reach of EU food law is ever expanding. Whereas in earlier times this was an area which was contented to confine itself to very basic food safety issues, such as the prohibition of adulteration and unsafe production techniques, in more recent times there has been an expansion into more evolved areas such as the regulation of nutritional qualities associated with foodstuffs. This is another field in which Ireland has shown itself to be a world leader both in the case of innovation of new technologies and in the designing of products which comply with the relevant regulatory constraints.

The fastest cars have the best brakes. Good regulation isn’t a hindrance to progress it is an essential component of it. Good risk management provides this industry with the brakes it needs to enable it to travel at the speed required by the opportunities. Having a dynamic food industry that consumers trust is based on good regulation. Developing food business on the scale required by market opportunities such as those presented by China will present massive regulatory challenges. As a country with proven expertise and invaluable experience at the forefront of European regulation we should be looking to realise the potential in this regulatory know how as one of our most valuable exports in this industry.

The group has been actively working to give a voice to the estimated 1,500 women in Ireland who are affected by the PIP situation.

Many women understandably do not wish to be outspoken about having received PIP implants as the reasons for having decided to opt for breast augmentation surgery are varied and personal.

However many members of PIP Action Group Ireland have appeared on TV and radio interviews to ensure that this problem receives the attention it deserves.

They have also met with several members of the government and TDs and have been actively working to prevent those affected by the PIP scandal from being forgotten about. Samples of the interviews they have taken part in can be found on their website www.pipactiongroup.com

We have been notified that as part of their efforts to increase awareness of the PIP situation PIP Action Ireland intends to hold an Information Day on the 5th of May in Dublin and hope that as many women as possible will attend.

This is the information that has been provided to us regarding the event:

“Myself and the ladies in PIP Action Group Ireland want to let you all know we will be holding a PIP Information Day, it will be on the 5th May in the Red Cow Hotel Dublin from 1pm – 3pm. 3pm – 4pm Media will be invited to speak with the group or any ladies that would like to speak with them. Media -please contact us through our web site if you have not already gotten an invite.

This is an invite only closed event. It is for PIP Ladies and their family/friends only there will be no media in the room. If any one from the cosmetic industry would like to attend please contact us directly. We are doing our best to ensure that pip women feel safe and secure to attend this information day.

To get a ticket all you have to do is register through our web site www.pipactiongroup.com by send us your name and the name of a friend, partner that you would like to bring with you. You will be mailed back an e ticket that you print and bring with valid ID on the day to show to security.

On the day we have secured guest speakers that will give a short intro about them selves and then they will be free to speak with you all.

Guest Speakers will include:

- Psychologists and Therapists

- TD’s

-Solicitors that are working with pip ladies

-A Non PIP related Cosmetic clinic- The Avoca Clinic- (Owner, Surgeon and Nursing staff)

- Patient Focus ( a patient advocacy group)

-PIP Action Group will also be giving an update on all work done so far and will report back on our meeting with the Chief Medical Officer and the Irish Medicines Board from Friday the 4th May.

This event will be free of charge to all pip ladies.

All speakers are coming to this event for us and giving us their free time to support all pip patients. And for that myself and the ladies in PIP Action Group Ireland would like to thank them very much for their support.

The information day has only been confirmed in the last 24 hours and tickets are going really fast so please register your name and who ever you would like to bring with you through our web site, your web ticket will be e mailed to you next week.

We really hope this helps all you ladies, we are working really hard to have one event with as much information as we can get for you.

-PIP Action Group Ireland “

Since the start of 2012, one of the things we have been really trying to drive in the Chamber is the idea of “Your Chamber”: you the members enable us to do what we do. But it is not members in the plural, it is you; the individual reading this.

We’ve had a great response to this initiative and a lot of projects are working away in the background as a result. Thanks to everyone who has gotten involved.

Last Thursday we re-launched our networking events and it was a great success.  After sending out an e-mail on the launch it struck me as ideal fodder for a blog post.  Well it was Saturday morning, the sun was shining and my technical know-how only goes so far.  So I stuck the post up here on our own blog at work and set up a separate category for the Chamber.  This wasn’t an ideal arrangement, but it got the thing done.

Imagine my surprise when a few hours later I saw an e-mail on my phone in response to my mail on the blogging idea from a member who joined at our networking event last Thursday.

Steven Kelly is someone who I have gotten to know in recent months in the process of his move to this part of the world. He is an extremely accomplished international businessman. It would appear that he also knows a thing or two about blogging…

I had never thought to mention to Steven about our Chamber and I was delighted to see that he had come along to the networking event having seen details of the event in the newspaper.

Anyway, after having received my e-mail on blogging, Steven thought it might be a good idea to have a dedicated Chamber blog which he has put here: http://clonakiltychamber.blogspot.com/

Blogging is a great way to let members know what’s going on in the Chamber and indeed to let other members know about what’s going on in your business. Please get involved in the blog; follow and comment on posts that you find interesting, contribute blog posts on your Chamber activities. The blog will be centrally administered and Steven volunteered to do this for now. If you wish to post to the blog on any Chamber activities, please send your post to chamber@clonakilty.ie and Mick will forward it from there.

We currently have a group working on the website and this is not a substitute for that. That site may incorporate a blog in due course and this temporary arrangement can be incorporated into that or replaced by that as the web site group feel is best in due course. Meanwhile, this gets the Chamber blogging.

I met a number of people I had never met before and saw many faces that were new to me that I did not get the opportunity to meet personally in the large crowd. We have also had a new member of the Chamber from the event.

One of the things people ask from time to time is what exactly does the Chamber do and how does it benefit my business? Well apart from the excellent events that the Chamber organises and facilitates (of which more below), for me one of the biggest benefits of Chamber membership is the network of other businesses that it provides both in Clonakilty and further afield. But you only really realise this benefit of Chamber membership if you connect to this network and get involved.

For instance, yesterday I met a vintage clothes business owner for the first time along with a long standing shoe retail business owners. You may wonder what benefit a vintage clothes business and a shoe business would get from a networking event. The shoes I was standing in at the event were purchased in the shoe shop concerned and I learned of the existence of the vintage clothes shop for the first time at the event.  Now I don’t wish this to go any further than this post, but I want to share something with you… it has come to my attention that many of our Chamber members actually wear clothes and shoes… indeed, I believe that some of our female members in particular are known to have more than one pair of shoes and will even consider buying new clothes when their old clothes are still perfectly good and haven’t even worn out yet.  Some of our members sit on furniture, others eat in restaurants and some even drink in pubs.  Yes, mad I know, but true and widespread here in our little community I am reliably informed.

But these local potential customers may well go on-line or elsewhere to buy their clothes and shoes if they aren’t shown a good reason that makes it better for them to do it locally. An existing relationship with a local business or a trusted referral to a local business is one very good reason.

When we met at our event, one member told me he needed to do a small building job and he didn’t know who to use. He didn’t know any builders previously but he got to know one through the Chamber who came and did an excellent job.  One satisfied Chamber customer providing business to another Chamber member, both benefited significantly.

But don’t come to networking events to sell your wares, come to develop relationships with people, make them aware of what you do and take an interest in what they do. Benefits from networking won’t come overnight but when opportunities to arise the strength of a good referral from a trusted source is very powerful and will benefit your business directly.

I mentioned a couple of business networking books at the start of the event that I strongly recommend. They were:

The Financial Times Guide to Business Networking by Heather Townsend and

Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi

Trish Kerr of Kerr’s Bookshop in Ashe Street, who was at our networking event, has very kindly offered to get these books in stock for Chamber members.

Stephen Smith of Edge Architecture in Astna Street, who I introduced to everyone present yesterday, will head up our regular networking events. We intend to have a separate dedicated e-mail follow up list for those who attend the networking events and anyone who signed in with their e-mail at the event will be hearing from Stephen shortly. Stephen will also be in touch with all members with details of future networking events and if you couldn’t make yesterday, I strongly urge you to come along to the next one.  If you aren’t already a member of our Chamber, please join and get involved.

CLON’TREPRENEUR is an excellent event happening on 24th May 2012. If you know of any budding entrepreneurs who would be interested becoming Clon’trepeneurs and winning €20,000 to get their business off the ground make sure to get them to enter before the deadline of 11th May. And make sure you get your tickets for the final on 24th May hosted by George Hook.  Full details are here. 

Clon’trepreneur was launched by Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney on 2nd April last. At the launch the Minster met one of our innovative local food entrepreneurs and invited him to travel with him on a trade delegation to China. Imagine what opportunities might flow for that business or our local area from that encounter at a Clonakilty Chamber of Commerce networking event.

And The Elephants are Coming! Jungle City is another extremely exciting project we have planned for Clonakilty for the coming season. We had been keeping it under wraps until we were sure everything was in place but the big launch and information evening will happen next Monday night, 16th April at the Quality Hotel at 8pm. Please come along, it is a really big and important project for Clonakilty and it will of course be another excellent networking opportunity. Full details are here.

So from bookshops to builders to business in China, ask not what Clon Chamber can do for you, ask what your business can do for Clon Chamber members; get involved and get networking!