| Dear Members,
Mullingar Chamber is pleased to present our year in review for 2022.
Mullingar Chamber has had another successful year supporting businesses in the Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District. We are the largest business representative group with over 215 members, another 30% Growth on 2021 Members. These members have over 4,600 staff employed in the town of Mullingar and surrounding areas. Our mission is to promote Mullingar and the surrounding areas as a place to live and work with obvious benefits for employees and employers.
In 2022 we played a considerable part in the following key achievements for Mullingar town:-
- IDA Advance Manufacturing – We assisted in securing the commitment from the IDA to develop a new Advance Manufacturing facility at Marlinstown, Mullingar. This investment, planned for 2023, will be transformative for the economy of Mullingar and follows on from our ongoing support in promoting Advanced Manufacturing in Mullingar
- National Centre of Excellence [Electric Vehicles] – We assisted in securing designation of Columb Barracks Mullingar as the National Centre of Excellence for Electric Vehicles. This project will be transformative for Columb Barracks and Mullingar with more details to follow in 2023
- Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann – We supported the delivery of this event by assisting on the voluntary committee and fundraising and over 600,000 visitors came to the town in August, one of the most successful Fleadhs on record
- Mullingar Business Awards – We welcomed over 450 guests to one of the largest business gatherings in Ireland in 2022 addressed by Minister for Finance of Ireland, Paschal Donohoe in November 2022
- Membership Growth – We now have over 215 members, an increase of 30% in 2022 and looking to grow again in 2023
Mullingar Chamber runs the Mullingar Shopping Voucher scheme which sells more than EUR300,000 of shopping vouchers in the town annually. We have maintained the town’s Purple Flag accreditation for the past 6 years and we provide Certificates of Origin for export companies from the municipal district. We manage www.mullingar.ie website and social media accounts as part of our mandate.
We have had considerable success in recent years and have been involved constructively in bringing many new jobs and companies to Mullingar town. We aim to continue this through on-going promotion of Mullingar as an investment location.
Mullingar Chamber actively provides constructive observation and commentary on all matters of local and regional economic and cultural interest including the Blackhall regeneration, Westmeath Tourism Strategy, Columb Barracks Regeneration and Fleadh 2022 as well as the county and town development plans and regional and national planning frameworks.
We deliver these goals through ongoing management of key stakeholder relationships with our members, Westmeath County Council, the IDA, Enterprise Ireland, as well as sitting on the Strategic Policy Committees of Westmeath County Council and the Local Community Development Committee.
We held many events throughout this year including;
- LinkedIn Webinar (Feb)
- International Women’s Day – Women in leadership event (Mar)
- Webinar – The Future of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Westmeath (May)
- Coffee Morning with Conor Cochrane of Social Media Elite (May)
- Wellness Month & Event (June)
- Budget Breakfast (October)
- Age Friendly Business Programme (Oct)
- Mullingar Chamber Awards (Nov)
- Winterfest (Dec)
Mullingar Chamber has worked with Westmeath County Council and received grants to assist in delivering
- Purple Flag – retained for its 6th year (Renewal due January 2023)
- Mullingar Gift Vouchers –We sell nearly EUR300k in Mullingar Gift Vouchers per year. The Voucher scheme now have over 115 businesses accepting the vouchers (Redesigned in March) and only charge 1.5% to retailers compare to 10% some other voucher retailers charge.
- Mullingar.ie – Promotion of events and activities in Mullingar and surrounding areas
- #LoveMullingar Project – this online project which created new brand guidelines promotion of Mullingar to visitors including instagramable features such as Umbrella Lane, Niall Horan Mural, Christmas Mural with many more to come.
Our Board sit on many committees and associations including;
- Fleadh Executive Committee 2022 and 2023
- Mullingar half marathon committee
- Mullingar St Patrick’s Day Festival
- Mullingar Pride of Place Committee
- Local Community Development Committee
- Mullingar SEC
- Mullingar Golf Club
- Anti-Litter Sub-Committee
- Lean Network
- LCDC
- ATCM
- Chambers Ireland
- Mullingar Christmas Lights Committee
- LEO Evaluation Committee
- Irish Bioenergy Association (IRBEA)
- Mullingar Lions Club
- Purple Flag Committee
- Westmeath GAA
- Mullingar Employment Action Group
- Vintners Association Ireland
- Belvedere Committee
- Mullingar Harriers Athletic Club
- Club Iarmhi
- Mullingar Rotary
Benefits to our members in 2022, which will continue in 2023, include;
- Promotion of Mullingar as a place to live and work – attracting more investment to Mullingar
- Content on our social media channels which has a reach of over 1.2million
- Exclusive Sponsorship opportunities for our Treasure Hunt & Discount Guides
- Exclusive Sponsorship opportunities for Mullingar Gift Vouchers
- In-Event Speaking Opportunities
- Networking Events
- Weekly Newsletter
- We advertised over 10,000 job positions for our members
- Exclusive members competitions & offers
- We asked you to complete detailed surveys to allow us to work more efficiently with your company
- Keep members informed of LEO, WCC and other Government grants
- Members Spotlight section on social media and our newsletters
- Mullingar Chamber 2022 Members Only Facebook Group
Media Announcements 2022:
We would like to make you aware of our Christmas office hours:
- Monday 19th December 9am to 5pm
- Tuesday 20th December 9am to 5pm
- Wednesday 21st December 9am to 5pm
- Thursday 22nd December 9am to 5pm
- Friday 23rd December 9am to 1pm
- We will be closed from 1pm on Friday 23rd until Tuesday 3rd January 2023.
Voucher redemptions will be processed for payment in early January.
For Certs of Origin, any orders placed for certs will need to be collected in the office as we cannot guarantee delivery before Christmas.
Our 2023 Invoices will follow in early January. If there are any changes to your circumstances please inform us. We need your continued support to continue on this path to promote Mullingar as a place to live and work.
From all of the team at Mullingar Chamber we wish you and yours a very Happy Christmas. |
