Minister for Housing, Local Government and Hertige, Darragh O’ Brien TD addressed Dublin Chamber this month, highlighting what advancements had been made in housing, primarily through the Housing for All programme. Minister O’ Brien outlined the effectiveness of preexisting policies that are in place to support homeowners and aid those looking to join the property market. Minister O’ Brien raised awareness for the First Home Scheme, a scheme which offers up to 30% off a new home, noting it is a scheme that requires greater awareness around the opportunities that can be availed through of the scheme. Additionally, Minister O’ Brien highlighted the Refurbishment Grant, a grant that supports potential new homeowners renovating inactive sites. Redevelopment of inactive sites is a critical point in Dublin Chamber’s lobbying agenda to increase compact growth. Continued cooperation between Dublin Chamber and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage was assured by Minister O’ Brien.

As mentioned above, this month saw Dublin Chamber’s third quarterly survey of the year, and its second collaboration with Savills having released a survey in Q4 2022. Having previously outlined the findings of that report, it is necessary to highlight the importance of having the voice of Dublin business heard in an evolving space. As previously pointed out, uncertainty shrouds the hybrid and remote working space, however, this information allows Dublin Chamber to engage directly with elected officials. Therefore, ensuring Dublin enterprise, regardless of size or sector remains both informed and influential. We once again thank you for continued support for the quarterly business outlook surveys and urge you to participate in the final survey of the year which can be completed by following the link here.

As we close out the year, the revision of the National Planning Framework (NPF) is becoming more prominent in the planning sphere. Revision of the NPF serves as means for Dublin to be allocated the necessary resources and investment to support its growth both in population and employment. Dublin Chamber has taken an active stance in the revision of the NPF both from the perspective of the Chamber, but also with Cities region Ireland (CRI). CRI constitutes Chamber of Commerce representatives from all five regional cities across Ireland in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. This group has made a submission to the relevant bodies as a collective urban area community.

Dublin Chamber’s elected council met this month to hear briefs from Sohini De and Lisa McKenna, who shared insights into their representation on the Dublin City Council Finance and the Dublin City Council Economic Development & Enterprise SPC respectively.

This month’s roundtables were conducted looking at two areas of growing importance to the respective infrastructure and labour taskforces within the Chamber. A roundtable discussion was held on Transport Development Plan was held feeding into the infrastructure taskforce. While a second roundtable discussion took place this month centred on the current employment permits system. An area with growing influence within the labour market scene due to an escalating skills crisis, the employment permits scheme can serve to fill high skilled positions with suitable staff from outside the EEA. This comes off the back of a submission made on employment permits made by the Chamber in August, which is available to read on the Chamber’s campaign page here.