GIVING A STRONG VOICE TO THE CONCERNS OF MEMBERS

MEET THE TEAM: SIOBHAN O’DONNELL

GIVING A STRONG VOICE TO THE CONCERNS OF MEMBERS

Fingal Chamber’s new Head of Public Affairs will be a familiar face to most members. A long time DAA representative on the Chamber’s Council, Siobhan O’Donnell was also President for three recession years between 2010 and 2014. “That was a dark time for business and in many ways it mirrors where we are now, coming out of COVID.” Reflecting on the ingredients of recovery from those days, she puts innovation, resilience and determination to survive at the top of the list. “Those are the same attributes that will see us right now,” she insists.

Siobhan O’Donnell was the public face and voice of Dublin Airport for nearly 38 years, and she remains passionate about its value as an economic driver not just for the region but the country as a whole. She is equally passionate about the ethos and value of the chamber to the community, and in particular about the benefits of networking that it provides for members.

She also believes that businesses have become more inventive as a result of COVID. “The pandemic has brought out so much enterprise in businesses as people recognized that they had to change their mindsets, that to survive the pandemic they had to do things differently. It’s been amazing to see how business have done that, whether it’s been food and beverage outlets doing takeaway deliveries or embracing online sales. There have been lots of different, quirky ways that businesses have reinvented themselves, even if that is a bit of a cliché. But it has been fantastic to see how businesses have really stepped up their game to reach out to their customers and remain relevant to them.”

In her new position as Head of Public Affairs Siobhan has already been closely involved in managing the Business Sentiment Survey, which has helped the Chamber set the agenda for its work for the next 12 months and advocate for its members. “The survey has provided us with excellent feedback on what the key and important issues are for Fingal businesses currently,” she says.

“We’re seeing many businesses really struggling to recruit staff. And this is at a time when we have an alltime record of 2.48 million people at work in Ireland. And yet businesses are still facing huge difficulties with staff retention and recruitment. That is why flexibility in working conditions, including the ability to work from home – even if only part of the time, – has become so important. That flexibility, I’m pretty certain, is one of the reasons why there are also more females in the workforce now.”

Speaking about her new role, Siobhan points out that the Chamber is the voice of over 400 businesses in Fingal and is the credible voice of the region. ‘So it’s really important that we represent and speak on behalf of our Chamber members and the results of the survey have really helped us understand even more what our Chamber members are looking for.”

Those results have already been shared with the county council. “It’s important that we work very closely with them,” she adds. “Our business members have received a lot of support from the local council. Some might say it wasn’t enough, but others have been delighted with what they’ve got. Over a third, 35%, of members received support through the commercial rates waiver, 19% got a restart grant and 7% were supported under the small business scheme for COVID. Some businesses also had help with outdoor dining.

“It has certainly enabled some businesses to continue that might otherwise have folded, so that support was was critical and most welcome. It has also created a template for support should something like this happen again. I know from my many years working in the airport, there’s normally a very significant event that will impact business every eight to 10 years.

“We’re here to help businesses to be resilient and work their way through those tough times. We’re here to speak on their behalf and to champion their cause. That includes lobbying on their behalf to protect their competitiveness. Part of my role will be looking at those issues and determining how the chamber can lobby effectively on issues like better housing and transport, for example. So we’ll be talking to the new Director of Housing in Fingal, Robert Burns, and with the Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien, and we’ll be picking up the gauntlet on the long promised but yet to be delivered Metro link between the airport and the city centre. There are a lot of issues that could be addressed but our focus won’t be on ‘easy wins’, it will be on those that matter most to our members and we will fight hard for them.”