Chamber Awards 2019 Winners Q&A – Cork Chamber
Following last month’s Chamber Awards, Leona Murphy from Chambers Ireland caught up with Cork Chamber who won the Most Successful Policy Campaign award category for their campaign with Limerick Chamber Gearing up for the M20 Cork – Limerick Motorway
Could you tell us a bit about your winning campaign?
Our campaign in partnership with Limerick Chamber is based around driving the M20 motorway connecting Ireland’s second and third largest City Regions. The route will unlock over 5,000 direct jobs, in total bringing €128 million in additional annual revenue to the Exchequer. Most critically the M20 will address the capacity and safety deficiency on the existing route. Together we commissioned an Indecon and Red C report into the socio-economic value of the M20. Our campaign led to the inclusion of the M20 motorway in Ireland 2040 and the National Development Plan, and ultimately the signing in May 2019 of the design contracts for the route planning. Limerick and Cork Chamber will continue to campaign for the route to be delivered for the benefit of business, commuters and people across Munster and the Atlantic Economic Corridor.
What does winning this award mean to your Chamber?
The award means a lot to the team at Cork Chamber as it validates the value of collaborating with our neighbouring City Region. For both cities, the M20 will bring huge synergies and opportunities that are currently denied by opening up the Atlantic Economic Corridor and connecting a strong link between Ireland’s second and third city. It is a very real acknowledgement of what Ireland’s largest business network can achieve when working together.
What are the next steps with this campaign?
Following the formal contract signing in May 2019 attended by both Limerick and Cork Chamber, we will continue to campaign for the route and to work through the next steps of formal consultation and keep pressure on all key milestones to be hit on time. It is essential that the business community is robustly represented as the development of large-scale infrastructure can be slow in iteration and challenging in delivery.
What exciting projects does the Chamber have planned for the rest of 2019 and into 2020?
2019 marks the bicentenary of Cork Chamber and we have a full programme in place to rethink and shape our city’s development over the next 200 years. From a policy perspective we continue representing members on agendas as diverse as high density living, sustainable and public transport, energy, urban planning, intercity and international connectivity. Our events team will continue to push the boundaries as we’ve already set the tone with networking on Ireland’s first green bus journey and there’s more where that came from!