In Confidence
Minutes of the 109th Meeting of the Board of InterTradeIreland, the Trade and Business
Development Body.
Tuesday 30th November 2010 – InterTradeIreland (11.00am – 1.00pm)
Present:
Board Members:
Dr David Dobbin CBE
Mr Brendan Butler
Mr Jack Gilmour
Mr Hugh Logue
Mr Pádraig MacLochlainn
Dr Gerard O’Hare CBE
Mr Tom Scott OBE
Executive:
Mr Liam Nellis
Mr Aidan Gough
Mr Laurence Lord
Ms Margaret Hearty
Ms Orla McGlennon
Chairman
Chief Executive
Strategy & Policy Director
Corporate Services Director
Director of Programmes & Business Services
Board Secretary
109.1 Apologies.
Apologies were received from Mr Ray Doherty, Mr John Fitzgerald, Mr Sean Gallagher, Ms Patricia
McKeown and Mr Vincent Parker.
109.2 Authorisation of Previous Minutes.
The Minutes of the 26th October 2010 Board Meeting were approved by the Board. The Board also
approved the Summary of Board Minutes of the 26th October 2010 Board Meeting for publication on the
InterTradeIreland Website. The Chairman asked that, given his absence at the last Board Meeting, his
appreciation to the Vice Chairman be noted.
109.3 Conflict of Interest.
No conflicts of interest were declared.
109.4 Matters Arising.
The CEO informed the Board that a paper outlining sponsorship options would be brought to the
January Board after consideration by the Communications Sub Committee.
The CEO advised that following discussions on granting delegated authority to the Fusion, Acumen and
Innova Steering Committees at the last Board meeting, clarification on the delegated authority permitted
under the terms of the Financial Memorandum had been sought. The Board approved the request in
principle and asked that a paper setting out the proposed formalised authority levels and
guidance/assessment criteria for approvals be brought back to the next Board meeting for further
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consideration and approval. The Board requested that this should be reviewed by the sponsoring
Departments.
109.5 Chairman’s Report
The Chairman advised that both he and the CEO had met with various political stakeholders in the
North including Alban Magennis and Margaret Ritchie and meetings with others were due to take place
in the near future. The CEO informed the Board that meetings with political stakeholders in the South
would be arranged for 2011.
The Chairman informed the Board that he had attended the InterTradeIreland Seedcorn event recently
held in Belfast and commented on the inspiring speech from the Equity Network Steering Chairman,
Sean Gallagher. The Board asked that their appreciation be passed on to the team involved on this
successful event.
109.6 Chief Executive’s Report
Mr Nellis presented highlights from his Chief Executive’s Report, which had been circulated in
advance of the meeting. He reported on the following:
The latest NSMC Trade and Business Sectoral meeting on 12 November which was attended by
Minister Foster, Minister O’Keefe and Minister Murphy. Ministers noted the progress made against
targets, approved the Annual Report and noted Corporate and Business Plans. The CEO advised that
most of the meeting was given over to a discussion with EU Commissioner for Innovation Máire
Geoghegan-Quinn. Minister Kennedy (DELNI) also joined for this part of the meeting. The discussion
was wide ranging but the main topics were increasing SME access to EU funding programmes and the
potential to increase North / South collaborative project participation. It was agreed that there exists a
significant opportunity for enhanced cross-border collaboration
The Seedcorn Competition continued with regional finals taking place in early November. Regional
finals were held in Athlone, Limerick and Newry. There were two investment pitch master classes held
in Belfast and Dublin for the competition finalists. The final judging and awards took place in Belfast on
Wednesday 24 November with around 200 attendees, many drawn from the investor and entrepreneur
communities. There are two additional investment pitch master classes planned for 29 November and
14 December for non-successful finalists from the 2010 Seedcorn competition.
Over 130 companies, MLAs and stakeholders attended the InterTradeIreland Business Ambassador
launch event in Parliament Buildings against a target of 70 attendees. Around 30 MLAs attended the
event against a target of 10 and we received very positive feedback from the Minister, MLAs and
companies in attendance. The Minister raised the event at the recent NSMC meeting and we received
letters and emails from MLAs and companies to congratulate InterTradeIreland on the initiative. The
CEO informed the Board that a similar initiative will be held in early 2011 in Leinster House. Beyond
the launch events, there are plans to use our ambassadors in marketing; PR and promotional activity
throughout the year and they will also be used as our company spokespeople where appropriate. Longer
term, there may be opportunities to engage our ambassadors to provide feedback and input into planning
around InterTradeIreland initiatives and activities.
As reported by the Chairman, meetings have taken place with key political stakeholders including,
Margaret Ritchie, SDLP Party leader, Alban Magennis, Chair of NI Assembly Enterprise Committee
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and Leslie Cree, enterprise spokesperson for the UUP. A meeting has also been secured with Mitchel
McLaughlin in December as enterprise spokesperson for Sinn Fein. Meetings have been requested with
political stakeholders in Ireland which are being followed up and are likely to take place in early 2011.
The third and last in our series of breakfast trade clinics was held in the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone on
Tuesday 9 November. It was the best attended event to date with over 30 companies in attendance to
listen to advice from experts in cross border taxation, legal and marketing issues.
In November, HBAN (the business angel syndicate programme) ran a series of ‘Ready for Equity’
master classes in both Cork and Dublin for Halo investors which drew from the learning’s of other
European business angels. The event was well attended by business angels from across the island. A
call to entry is being made for the first formal cross border business angel syndicate. The syndicate
hopes to attract investors from the Louth/Newry area and both HBAN and Halo NI are working together
on this investor group.
A new event is being piloted by the Equity Network executive in Dublin on 9 December, entitled ‘What
do Venture Capitalists really do?’ The event hopes to demystify the venture capital investment process
by drawing on the experiences of the lead equity advisor and an active VC.
The latest in the 2010 Entrepreneurship Masterclass series took place in Dublin on 10 November. A
range of companies from the retail sector were hosted by Michael Geurin of Medicare and John O’Neill
of Heatons. Further Masterclasses in the Tourism and Creative Industry sectors are planned for early
2011.
With 4 weeks remaining to closing for the Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards 2010/2011,
interest to date has been extremely encouraging with 112 registrations, including 30 from Northern
Ireland. We have been receiving extensive PR for the awards, starting from the Launch in October and
now focusing on the Call to Entry. Advertisements have appeared in The Irish Times (18 ads in total so
far), including 1 full page colour ad in the Business Section of The Irish Times on 19.11.10, as well as
good radio coverage. The CEO advised that to recognise Marion McAneney’s important contribution
to the development of the Innovation Awards, an award dedicated to her memory had been planned.
The Dungarvan Go-2-Tender workshop took place on the 09 and 16 November 2010. Dungarvan is
half-way between Cork and Waterford and companies attended from both areas. These are areas where
InterTradeIreland engagement has historically been lower than desired so full attendance at the
workshop is encouraging.
The work of the Delivery Agent on the current phase of Go-2-Tender was also shortlisted for a National
Procurement Award. The National Procurement Awards were held at the Burlington Hotel on the
16/11/10. Although not a category winner, the fact that the work of the Programme was recognised as
an exponent of best practice amongst the leading organisations on the island is extremely positive. Jack
Gilmour represented the InterTradeIreland Board at the event.
A study on company carbon measurement in cooperation with Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern
Ireland is being finalised. It will include a practical action plan covering the potential to offer Carbon
Trust services to Irish companies, simple guidance for companies on carbon measurement and how to
undertake this, and the agencies to explore how to offer carbon measurement supports, particularly to
smaller companies coming under pressure from their supply chains.
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Substantial progress is also being facilitated by InterTradeIreland in the area of public procurement
cooperation. A high level steering group continues to meet and several practical actions are being
developed for 2011.
109.7 Board Sub Committee/Steering Committee Reports
Fusion Steering Committee Report
Mr Logue reported back from the Fusion Sub Committee meeting held on 10th November to review
applications submitted by Helix (Fusion Managing Agent). With the endorsement of the Fusion Sub
Committee, the Board approved the 13 Fusion projects presented and asked the Board to note 1 deferred
project which is subject to additional clarification. He advised that the final evaluation of the Fusion II
programme was due to be completed and the findings would be brought to the next Board meeting.
Mr Logue informed the Board that recently large companies had expressed an interest in participating in
the Fusion programme. Following discussion the Board asked that the Fusion Sub Committee consider
options for large company involvement and report back to the Board.
Innova Sub Committee Report
Mr Scott reported back from the Innova Sub Committee meeting held on 11th November 2010. With the
endorsement of the Innova Sub Committee, the Board approved the two Innova collaborative R&D
projects presented.
Audit Committee Report
In the absence of Mr Fitzgerald, Mr Lord presented the report of the Audit Committee meeting which
had been held on 26th October. He outlined the principle points of the draft ‘NIAO report to those
charged with governance’ (2009).
109.8
For Information, Consideration, Discussion, Decision &/or Approval
Business Monitor July – September 2010 Results
Mr Eoin Magennis, InterTradeIreland Research Manager joined the Board meeting for this agenda item.
Mr Gough updated the Board on the findings of the recent InterTradeIreland Business Monitor. He
reported that evidence suggests a very weak and uneven recovery with 42% of businesses reporting a
decrease in the previous quarter’s sales. Larger companies are performing better with 36% of export led
companies reporting an increase in sales compared to 21% for non exporters. Mr Gough advised that the
focus this quarter had been on access to finance with problems being identified in both the ‘demand’
and ‘supply’ side. 16% of businesses had reported worsening relationships in the past year. Only 18%
of companies surveyed had applied for overdraft or loan facilities with 72% being successful. 62% of
businesses viewed the terms of the overdraft or loan as unattractive with approximately 50% not
believing they would be approved. Discussions with bankers and business groups have suggested that
the figures reported seemed accurate. The bank’s view is one of low demand and the customer’s view,
one of a lack of supply. Mr Gough reported that not all banks are the same with some lending and others
not.
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Following discussion, it was agreed that the banks should be approached again to ascertain if any
changes in approach had been made as a result of the EU IMF bailout package. The Board asked that a
short paper highlighting the finds of the Business Monitor and Access to Finance survey be prepared
and emailed to Board members for comment prior to circulation to the Departments.
Permissions to go to Tenders and Variations to Letters of Offer
The Board approved the request to go to competitive tender for Academic Services for the delivery of a
Post Graduate Diploma in Sales and Marketing for Acumen graduates.
Communications Progress Report
Mr Lord presented the monthly Communications Progress Report. He highlighted both the qualitative
and quantitative aspects of communications activities. He advised that these metrics provide the Body
with an insight at an organisational level not previously available to us. It was pointed out that the daily
news digest prepared by the Communications team was only being made available to the
Communications Sub Committee. The Board requested that going forward the daily news digest be
emailed to all Board members.
109.09 For Information and Noting
The Board noted the following reports:




November Communications Progress Report
Governance and Financial Matters Report
The Accounts and Financial Commentary for 2010;
2010 detailed Business Plan Progress Report
109.11 Any Other Business
It was agreed that the next Board meeting would be held in Parliament Buildings, Stormont Estate,
Belfast on Tuesday 25th January 2011 at which Minister Foster will provide a welcoming address to the
Board.
……………………………………Authorised by:
Dr David Dobbin CBE
Chairman, InterTradeIreland
25th January 2011
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