To celebrate its 120th Year Anniversary, Newry Chamber of Commerce & Trade hosted a historic business lunch with keynote speaker Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Ed Balls in an event sponsored by firmus energy held in the Canal Court Hotel on the 11th October.
This high profile event included a very informative, interesting and entertaining on stage interview with the Shadow Chancellor and his Labour Party colleague, Vernon Coaker, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland hosted by Dearbhail McDonald.
This event attracted almost 200 delegates representing Newry Chamber member and wider Northern Ireland business community along with MP’s, NI Assembly Ministers, political leaders and other high profile guests.
President Cathal Austin, Newry Chamber of Commerce stated, ‘my Chamber colleagues and I were delighted to be hosting this very important event to celebrate 120 years of Newry Chamber serving the local business community’.
‘Ed Balls is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential political figures in theUK; his commitment to speak in Newry at this event has helped us profile our City on a national stage and provide use with a unique opportunity to promote our vibrant business community’.
‘We were particularly delighted that Minster Alex Attwood, Minister Stephen Farry, Junior Minister Jonathan Bell and Junior Minister Jennifer McCann took time out of their busy schedules to come to Newry to join in our Anniversary celebrations’.
In his keynote speech, the Shadow Chancellor stated that, ‘kick-starting the Northern Ireland economy out of recession is of vital importance; delivering jobs and long-term investment are vital to securing the economic and political future ofNorthern Ireland’. He made an unequivocal commitment, ‘that the Labour party was determined to work closely with local stakeholders to make that happen, to secure a prosperous future for Northern Ireland and help ensure that all citizens can share in that rising prosperity’.
The Shadow Chancellor added that, ‘Newry is one of the success stories of the peace process. A decade on from being awarded city status, it has placed itself at the centre of the economic corridor between Belfast and Dublin. Its enviable location as a hub of cross-border economic development has transformed the entire region. And the innovation shown will encourage further accolades to go alongside Newry’s status as a fair-trade city, one of the first in the UK and Ireland’.
He highlighted First Derivatives as one of Newry’s key success stories, growing from seed funds of £5k to employing over 600 people and headquartered in Newry.
Michael Scott, general manager of firmus energy said, ‘firmus energy was delighted to support Newry Chamber at this 120th Anniversary Business Lunch. Newry Chamber is extremely proactive and has a fantastic calendar of events for businesses in the local area. We have been involved with the Chamber since 2007, when we connected our first natural gas customer in Newry. Since then we have been actively working with local businesses and homes in the area and laid more than 60km of pipeline. Most recently we have extended our natural gas network to Warrenpoint, bringing our investment in the Newry and Mourne area to almost £6 million. Our investment and network development in this area continues to increase and we were delighted to be the principle sponsor of this year’s Chamber lunch.”
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