November marked another active month of advocacy at Dublin Chamber. Earlier in the month, we launched our Q3 Business Outlook Election Special Survey and met with representatives from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to present key findings. Central to the discussion was the dissatisfaction expressed by respondents regarding infrastructure delivery. The survey revealed that almost half of Dublin businesses (45%) are currently dissatisfied with the delivery of infrastructure for Dublin under the National Development Plan (NDP), with an additional 9% reporting to be very dissatisfied. Speaking to these findings, Dublin Chamber advocated for accelerated delivery, detailed milestones and clear deadlines across critical projects, not just in housing, but in public transport, water and wastewater infrastructure and the energy grid.
Dublin Chamber also engaged with representatives from the Department this month on the topic of statutory sick leave. This year, the number of paid sick leave days increased from three days to five. This entitlement is set to further increase in 2025 to seven days and to ten days in 2026. While Dublin businesses certainly support paid sick leave for their employees, they are concerned that potential misuse of the entitlement will increase as the number of entitled days expand. Dublin Chamber outlined this concern in a letter to the Department and advocated for a delay in future expansions of the entitlement, as well as additional supports for small businesses financially struggling as a result of the statutory requirements. The letter can be read in full here.
On the 4th of November, Dublin Chamber as part of a delegation led by Chambers Ireland travelled to Brussels to meet with EU officials and recently elected Dublin MEPs. This trip was timely as a new College of Commissioners were going through their appointment hearings in the European Parliament including Micheal McGrath. During the course of this trip, meetings were held with outgoing Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, Declan Costello, Deputy Director General at the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs, the Irish Parliament Representative to the EU and some of our MEPs. It was an important opportunity for us to bring some of our priorities, especially around competitiveness to policy makers in the Commission and the Parliament. During the course of this delegation, we had the opportunity to hear from senior leaders in the Commission on the step change that President von der Leyen intends to take with her new team of Commissioners, we were glad to hear that competitiveness for businesses would be a major focus of the Von der Leyen II Commission. Dublin as a major European city has its part to play also, and Dublin Chamber stressed the need for continued investment in infrastructure to the Dublin MEPs that attended. Utilising funding from the EU Institutions to achieve this will be key in the years ahead.
In addition to the above, Dublin Chamber welcomed the High Court’s decision this month to lift the summer passenger cap at Dublin Airport. While this was certainly a positive development, Dublin Chamber emphasised that it is only a temporary reprieve rather than a permanent solution. Dublin Chamber has been consistent in its position that the 32 million passenger cap must be lifted in its entirety to ensure that Dublin, and Ireland, does not fall behind its competitors and remains an attractive destination for businesses to invest and tourists to visit. Our press release can be read in full here.
During November, Dublin Chamber also attended a consultation session with SOLAS to inform the Department's next Further Education and Training (FET) strategy. The current FET strategy, “Future FET: Transforming Learning” 2020-2024, concludes at the end of 2024 and work has begun to develop the next five-year strategy for 2025-2029. This meeting formed part of the consultation process and Dublin Chamber took the opportunity to put forward a number of suggestions for how the next strategy can be more responsive to business needs and support talent and skills development across various industries. We look to further engaging with SOLAS on this strategy.