Episode 6: Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Wexford

Mary Walsh of Ire Wel Pallets and Laura Kelly of Kelly’s Resort Hotel share how entrepreneurship, innovation and long-term thinking have helped them build and grow two very different and but equally successful Wexford businesses with national and international reach.  

In conversation with Paula Roche, CEO of County Wexford Chamber, they talk about spotting opportunity, balancing tradition with innovation, and the importance of building strong teams that last. Their stories show how County Wexford offers the right environment for ambition and creative thinking , whether you are building something new or leading a business with generations of history behind it. 

About the guests: 

Mary Walsh is founder of Ire Wel Pallets. After leaving a successful banking career, she built the company from the ground up with just three people. Today, the business employs over 60 people and supplies major global companies across food, pharma and manufacturing. 

Laura Kelly represents the fifth generation behind Kelly’s Resort Hotel, one of Ireland’s best-known hospitality brands. From a small tea room in 1895 to an internationally recognised resort hotel, Laura is helping shape the next chapter of that family legacy. 

Business Connections is supported by LEADER. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

I mean it's everything really, isn't it? Like Rossler, we wouldn't be anything without where we are. There's so much culture, there's so much history in Wexford, so many suppliers, and it's really our identity and who we are.

SPEAKER_03 0:15

We go, we travel, we listen to what's best practice globally. Bring that back to Wexford so that we can give that to our customers here so that they're on top of their game.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Welcome back to Business Connections, a podcast brought to you by County Wexford Chamber. In this episode, Paula Roach is joined by two business leaders who have both proven that County Wexford is a place where entrepreneurship, innovation, and ambition can flourish and where simple ideas can become big businesses. Laura Kelly represents the fifth generation of the family behind Kelly's Resort Hotel, one of Ireland's most iconic hospitality brands. What started as a small tea room in 1895 has become one of the country's best-known resort hotels, and Laura is helping to shape the next chapter of that legacy by continuing to provide the world-class hospitality that Kelly's is known for and by constantly innovating and moving forward. Mary Walsh always knew that she wanted to start her own business, but she wasn't sure exactly what area it would be in. She then spotted a gap in the market for high-quality packaging and palette supply, and so left her career in banking to start Arwell Palettes with her husband. Starting with just three people, the business now has a team of 60 colleagues and supplies major global players across food, pharma, and manufacturing. Laura and Mary talk about balancing tradition with innovation, building teams that last, and why Wexford offers the perfect place to grow a business, a career, and a life.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Laura, Mary, thank you so much for joining us today. You're both from very different businesses. We've got the hospitality sector and we've the package and solutions sector, supplying a lot of different industries. Before we get into what your businesses do, tell me a bit about your own journey in terms of career to date. Mary, do you want to go first?

SPEAKER_03 2:02

Yes, I come from a banking background, so loved, loved all of my work in the bank, but always knew I was going to have my own business. Don't really know where that came from, other than my family all had their own business. So to me, that was normal. I grew up around the table, listening about the the good things that happened on a day and the bad things, and we were all as children in the thick of it, sometimes maybe helping out to try and find a solution or solve a problem. So to me, that was nor my my normal life, and that's how I grew up. Shea, my husband, he also grew up with a family of entrepreneurs, the hospitality industry, they had a sawmill, a warehouse. So again, that was his kitchen table uh discussion around the business, what was happening on a day-to-day basis, who was needed to do what. So that was his norm.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

And were you in a business side of banking or personal banking? Uh personal banking. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:54

Absolutely saw the business side of it. And I suppose d I enjoyed that and I understood it coming from the family business. There was nothing that I didn't understand about it. So again, that was n uh my norm. That was that was my life. Um, but was always curious about you know the what you know what next, but didn't know what the what next was going to be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

But you just wanted to run your own business.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

Absolutely. I was always going to have my own business and had no idea what that was going to be.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

So you didn't actually know what sector or anything.

SPEAKER_03 3:24

No, but I was very open to having my own business and and I loved every minute of my job in the bank, loved it. Great colleagues. But I knew that was a stepping stone to something else. Something else.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Well, let's hold it taut on something else and let's go to you, Laura, in terms of your career background.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

Yeah, well, I coming from a family business, I'm the fifth generation of uh our family to work in Kelly's Resort Hotel in Rosslair. So I guess you could say it was in the blood. Um I was born into it. But then in saying that, I guess I'm I come up from a family of six girls, um, myself being the eldest of six. Um, and for the for the most part, like I guess we were always, we were never forced to come back. It was never uh like an expectation of us. Like my parents would have always said, it needs to be something that you love and that you really want to do and that you're passionate about. So I guess I have come back and I've been working there for over 12 years now. So this is my 13th season now back working with my dad in the hotel. And most recently last year, my sister Grace, who's the youngest of the six, has come back to join us in the family business as well. So it's brilliant to have her back, and we're delighted as well. So it's the two of us. So everyone in the middle has gone off to do different things. Um, but the two of us, I guess, even dad would say now growing up, he kind of knew the two of us would probably end up coming back, but he never pushed us. He knew you were balanced.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

But you mentioned coming back. Um, you did obviously work elsewhere before, and you've travelled, Laura. You've been to Singapore, New York, London for work. Was that a conscious choice that you wanted to establish your own identity in hospitality elsewhere first?

SPEAKER_04 5:10

Uh definitely. And I think also um the hospitality industry is it's always evolving. There's so many different ideas out there, different people in different countries, hotels are doing things different ways. So for me, I guess it was really important to go out and to see what was happening elsewhere so that I could come back, I guess, with my own ideas and I guess view on an experience as well, really. I did my studies in Switzerland, in Lausanne. So I spent four years over there, and then it was very much half the year in, half the year out. So during that, and when I worked afterwards as well, I went to London, I went to New York, I worked in uh I was in Singapore for you for a few months, and I was in Turkey and Morocco as well. So before coming back to that is so admirable for it.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

It's so admirable because you could have just walked into a job in your home hotel and that was just it, but you wanted to get out there and learn new ways and carry your own way, you know.

SPEAKER_04 6:08

And I don't think I think that um I guess for me going forward as well, it's very much like we have the tradition of Kelly's and the legacy of Kelly's and the way it's always been done. And I think you know, we do a good job at what we do, but it's finding the fine line, I guess, between like evolving and bringing the business forward without losing the balance of the legacy and the tradition that we've always had in Kelly's. So it's a fine line, but uh, I guess when you look at all the generations over the years through Kelly's, like in 1895, it started as a small tea room when the train came to so the train had just arrived in Rosslake, okay, and my great-grandfather would have opened a tea room at the time. Um, and then with that, the next generation added some bedrooms, and then in the early 1900s it became more of a hotel. And then my grandfather, I guess, was uh Bill Kelly, Billy Kelly, would have really turned the hotel into more of a resort hotel. So he was really the pioneer behind the resort hotel. He had travelled abroad and had seen this concept abroad, and that was him that really turned the hotel. And my granny then kept the show on the road after his untimely death, initially at fifty, he was only 50 years of age when he passed away in 1977. So unfortunately, I've always heard amazing things about him, but I've never met him. Oh, right. Um, and my dad would have only been young at the time as well when he passed away. So my granny then was a very strong woman, and she kept the show on the road until my dad came back in 1986. Yeah, so it's been a long, uh, a long journey, I guess, and a long legacy and many generations that have gotten Kelly's to wear.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

It's such a story, and it's evolved so much, as you say, from the tea rooms, just a small tea rooms, and then let's have a few bedrooms and let's add a spa on, and then just so many layers. And as you said, it was each generation that added something new on.

SPEAKER_04 8:00

Yes, it's quite amazing. Absolutely. And dad, and his what he's named just 40 years back in the hotel, which is amazing, but he's done so much for the hotel uh in his 40 years. He's really had a good uh vision for the future of the hotel.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Okay, so you were kind of born into the legacy of an evolving um brand. Mary, you created your own brand. So when you said you wanted to own your business, how did it become Rwell palettes?

SPEAKER_03 8:28

At that time, uh, Paula, uh, a number of companies here in the county were looking for pallets, packaging boxes, crates, and they were asking uh Shay's family business if they could provide them.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

A hardware business.

SPEAKER_03 8:40

Yes, a hardware business. And and rightly so. Uh Shay's father at the time said, No, we'll stick to the knitting, as as the good uh Peter Drucker said. And he's he said, uh, no, no, we don't do that packaging nonsense. No, not at all. We're not interested. He was right, it wasn't something they did. So Shay was thinking about this and thinking that's a shame now turning away that business, that pallet business. And I was listening as well and thinking, Yeah, that's that's a bit of a shame. I wonder, could we do that? Um, maybe to cut that long story short. Uh one day I left the bank, Shay left the family business, and we decided we're gonna make pallets. Wow. Yes, so we started with uh Tyrlon Wexford actually was our first very first customer. We still remain our customer good customer today. Um so yes, we we just jumped in. I had I could count money, I could count numbers, no idea how to uh calculate cubic meters or even use a measuring tape. I learned fast. So that's that's where we started. And um we started with three people and we leased a premises in Aulert village, actually. Um we had to quickly find a premises, but we were wonderfully quietly confident. And we listened to when we went out and spoke to some customers, we could see their problems. And I think we were good, I I do I do know we were good at listening to the customer and uh listening to their problem. And we uh thought this is easy, but you know, we can give them what they want. We did two simple things in the nineties. We listened to the customer, we produced and delivered to specification exactly the palette they wanted, and we delivered it on time. And customers could not get that in the nineties. So we started to partner. That's how we we rather than being just a supplier and saying we will supply you with some pallets or boxes of crates, we partnered with them, we got in uh under the bonnet, I suppose, Paula, and we understood their pain. Uh and they had a lot of pain. They had no they had no um consistent supplier at the time in the market. So we got in and listened to the customer, understood what they wanted, and provided packaging solutions to them. And that's how we we actually started it. And how were Tier Lawn moving goods around prior to they were moving them on badly produced, badly made, okay, poorly serviced pallets and it wasn't working for them. But they were there were there were they had waiting times, they were losing time waiting for pallets, breakages, pallets uh not made specification, uh they had a lot of product damaged. So they had a numerous, multiple problems, all because the the transit piece, that transit tool wasn't working, it wasn't fit for purposes, it should have been. So we we've been good at listening to people and listening and understanding. And I suppose again, thinking of working from home and and all and all of that good stuff that that I know some people can do, it wouldn't have suited me. I love people, I love being with people, and that was something we were very good at from the beginning. Just listening to the problem. And then very quickly we were coming up with a solution and finding a solution. And then as time went by, other companies could see that we were uh supplying material on Lan Bia at the time, and uh then there's the kerseas and there's the waters and the solstices. So all of these companies started to uh trust us. So that's been a huge part of our journey is trust us, and it's our strap line, trust us to deliver. Okay, and they really do trust us. So we're partners. We almost see ourselves as being part of their business. And we've repeat customers for 30 years, 35 years, 28, 27, 26 years. So it's repeat business. Um, and that's because they trust us and we're we're part of that partnership yeah delivering delivering to them.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Trust is a big thing, and likewise you'd have to have the trust of customers, repeat business, because I don't think there's a probably a hotel group or brand more well known in Ireland than Kelly's. Everyone knows about Wexford, everyone knows about Rossleer, and everyone knows about Kelly's. So you built up the trust of repeat business. It's very hard to get into Kelly's during the summer, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 12:41

I guess it is anytime, anytime. We're always happy to be busy because we do work hard in it as well. Um, I guess yes, trust would be one of our values in Kelly's as well, that people know that if they come to stay with us, that they could they could trust us and that they know they're going to have time as well as I guess other values that we would have is very much around um you know uh excellence, like excellence in terms of like quality and what people are getting. And also for us, another really important value as you're talking about values is connection, and that I guess like trust with connection is really at the core of our values in the hotel. So, and you said, I guess, people returning a return business, and what we always promote is very much like it's easy, not easy, but don't get me wrong, but it's you can get people to come the first time. You I mean, you you need to pay for marketing and various other things, and you get people to come the first time, but like a true measure for us of success is do people want to come back to Kelly's again? So for us, really, our measure of success isn't on like the number of first-time bookings that we're getting, it's really on the number of repeat customer bases that we're getting because that's what's really important to us is that people are enjoying their time with us, that they're feeling well looked after, and that they want to come back.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Yeah. And I think what helps so well is the importance you place in the connection that you mentioned. Um, I was down in Kelly's last year for a corporate type dinner, and we were in the private dining room, and there's around 25 of us around the table. And your dad, Bill, came in, and one by one, he went around to every single person at the table. The more senior execs and the more junior people in the room, and he said, Hi, how's your dinner? and you enjoying yourself. He didn't have to, he could have talked to the more senior person, the person who's paying the bill, but he went around to everybody at the table, and that connection is so important. And your dad's do that. Your dad's in the business so long, and you still do it.

SPEAKER_04 14:36

And we do it every night, whether it's him, you know, if he's not there, I'm there, or Grace is there. And you know, we have an amazing team of people who who work with us, yeah, as well. And I do think, you know, we talk about connection, but I think there's so many different connections. Of course, there's the connection uh with the people, the guests who are coming, whether they be dining or they're staying with them, but it was also the connection with the team that we have as well, is you know, as important because if you don't nourish that and if your team aren't happy and if your team don't feel valued, then it doesn't represent, then not then the connection between the team and the customer suffers, you know. So it really is it does a full circle.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Mary, you and I were talking to start, and you mentioned Tier Lawn was your first first customer, yes, but your list of customers is immense in terms of who they are, like Tierlawn, Danone, BD, Sulzer, Waters, Integer, Cerzia, Rainars, Nolan's, Irish Country Meets, Kent's. They are big players in the weekster market, aren't they?

SPEAKER_03 15:32

They are, they are. And we're very grateful to them, Paula. I always say that there's three pillars in there's there's our great team in Arrow Pallets, and there's our great customers and our suppliers. We're very grateful we have the best of customers here on our doorstep. Uh but like that, we've always been curious and looking out, and you know, we we wanted not world domination, but we like to supply uh to Galway and to Donegal and to Belfast and to Cork. So we're supplying customers all over Ireland, global players. We're we're supplying into a global market. So that's what we keep saying to our customers. We're supplying global players here. We've got to be at their level. Yeah. So that's why we have to keep travelling and looking out, seeing what is the best out in uh in the market so we can bring it back to the customer. And again, as I said, that transit tool, that palette has not changed the actual structure, but how it is made has changed immensely over the years. I'm sure it was quite a manual process in the 50s, I'm quite sure it possibly was. Now pallets are made by robots uh automation. Um we kill and dry heat treat, which means we take the moisture out of the pallet so that the moisture doesn't get into that tablet for the kercias or for the cheesemakers, so the moisture is taken out completely. We heat treat then during that kill and drying process, and that means uh timber uh packaging is heated to 56 degrees for 30 minutes, which eliminates any bugs that might be on board. Thankfully, all of the forests in Ireland don't have bugs on board, but it's an international global packaging uh standard. So we do all of that in-house in our well. Uh and again to give our customers that assurance that this uh packaging uh transit tool that we're supplying them is is is globally compliant. Yeah. Globally compliant.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

And you mentioned obviously what you're transporting is goods like um for Kerzea on and for Danone. So it's a product that's going to vulnerable countries, vulnerable patients, vulnerable.

SPEAKER_03 17:24

Absolutely. Um, medical devices, uh, or our our other lovely uh customers here, Coca-Cola. Yeah, if they're great. People have to enjoy themselves too uh and and uh make sure that they have a product that's not in any way contaminated by by any any part of the packaging. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Sustainability is a big one for you as well, Mary. You've done a lot of a bit of a sustainability journey with um solar panels and all that to try and absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 17:50

Absolutely, yeah. And we we actually became an FSE certified site in 2024, Forest Stewardship Council. We purchase all our materials from FSE suppliers anyway, all as have done, but we decided to just push it a little bit farther and to become an FSE site in our own right. So we're FSE certified since um 2024, which means all of our materials are purchased from um sustainably managed forests, which means if a tree is cut down, it's replaced immediately. So sustainably managed, but we're a sustainably managed site ourselves as well. But that's that's very important to me, Paula. I I again I go back, I love to say I love pallets, I love everything about them, their whole relevance, but how environmentally friendly they are as well. There's no negative on the environment coming from our uh process. We have a 10-acre site. We're employing 53 people, but there is zero negatives and we have zero waste off the site. So uh pallets uh that are produced and made new, delivered to customers, but we will also take back pallets from the Dunowns from the Cerseius if if pallets become damaged or if they're receiving goods on pallets, we will recycle, repair, reuse, and resell those pallets and then pallets and and we'll give them value for them. We'll buy those pallets from them. So they're very happy. We turned again. That was a solution. They had a cost, they had skips filling with pallets, and that was a big cost to them. So we provided them with a solution uh that we saw in Germany in in the 90s. Uh so we presented that to our customers, so we said we we'll buy those from you. Um so now we we buy them, so we've turned a cost into a revenue for them.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

Uh very happy customers, they're very, very happy customers. But from a sustainable point of view, just aside, Paula, it's the right thing to do. Pallets, wooden pallets should never go to landfill. Yeah, they should work until their end of life. And end of life, we bring them back, we shred them, and we use that fuel to kill and dry, take out that moisture and heat-treat pallets on site with our our uh Besbalman kilns, they're Dutch German engineering. Um so we use no fossil fuel to dry and kill and dry pallets like like some of our competitors. Um but and that's we've always looked, we should be sustainable. And I like the industry, it's a clean industry. Nothing should go to landfill. In the past that did happen, but thankfully that doesn't happen now. We extract the nails from the pallets when we shred them and we send that back to the steel recyclers, so they're again turned into steel products. So there's zero zero going to landfill. And I'm very proud of that. And we all are as a team, we're very proud of it. Um so yeah, and again, uh that's important. Uh, and and I know Laura alluded to it as well. Team, it's really important that you work with your team. We have a very good team of people. We could Shay and I could not do what we do. We couldn't uh have grown from two people to 52 people uh and to uh do what we're doing um if it was just down to two people or three or four even. We have a fantastic team of people. But they too can see the benefit of working in a company that's um during uh the pandemic, we were immediately granted um essential service status. Immediately. Yeah. Lovely letter from our lovely uh Tae Shock at the time. Um to keep the supply chain of goods, uh food and pharmaceutical products moving onto the shelves.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

If we stop, the global supply chain stops. So they like the relevance of the business and the the real, I suppose, genuine part that it plays in all of our lives in keeping goods moving to and fro globally.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Yeah. Laura, you have certainly been innovative down in Kelly's. Um your C rooms is an impressive addition to the resort, your own garden um for your fruit and vegetables. Tell us more about that.

SPEAKER_04 21:33

Yeah, I guess innovation is very much it's something that's really important to us. Um, I think it's something that's important to everyone because you just can't stand still either. Um, I mean, if Kelly's was still where it was 20 years ago, 30 years ago, or 40 years ago, I don't think we'd be as busy as we are today. So, and people's tastes and change and wants and needs and things like that change a lot as well. And I often say that too, um, especially when we're talking to The team in Kelly's like new people coming in. You know, I often say 20 years ago, like if you went to a hotel and there was um, you know, you had a Wi-Fi or a flat probably didn't even exist, or do you know flat screen TV and all these kind of things used to be exciting um years ago, but and it used to be something that if you went to a hotel that people would be really excited for. Whereas now all these things then start to become the norm. Now it's like normal to have restaurants, it's normal to have um a spa if you go away. So all these things now that were innovative, let's say 15-20 years ago, aren't anymore. So I guess for us it's very much about looking forward, seeing what's coming up, seeing new ways that we can innovate. But I think, like I said to you before, it's really about for us the balance. And I think the balance is really important. So you need to, and I'm sure Mary agrees, like you need to understand your business fully and how it operates and what people want and the needs of your customers, I guess, before you can move forward and identify the gaps of what people are now wanting, you know. It's really is a cycle of keeping do you know, listen, like you said as well, just listening is so important, you know, um, to where we are now and where we need to be.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

I think you can innovate in other ways though, like because TVs and Wi-Fi, as you say, is an expectation these days. If it's not there, it's like what's going on. But menus is where I see innovation, and that's I think what your C rooms does. It's kind of people's tastes have been evolved are evolving more from travel, maybe.

SPEAKER_04 23:34

Absolutely, yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Um, and I think that's where the menus kind of where people's expectations in terms of the food you offer has changed, has it?

SPEAKER_04 23:41

Yeah, absolutely it does. I think people are becoming a little bit more adventurous around food, also.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Um I was rared on potatoes and vegetables and meat.

SPEAKER_04 23:51

But it's important to still have that as well. And I guess we've got three restaurants in the hotel, and I think for us, what was really important is being able to offer three different concepts um and three different, like three distinct different concepts, really, across the three restaurants, so that when people come, not only does it offer choice to people, because some people love all three, and they'll decide to so there you go. If people are coming to deciding on moving to Wexford, they can come down and try all three restaurants. But we've got people who love all three, and you can see them rotating through the three, whether that be um the guests or people living in the area. Um, and then you've got some people who just have a certain preference for one over the other, and then that's fine as well.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

But again, I think it's about offering choice and choice to the customer. Let's talk about the reality of longevity. I don't think I need to talk to you about that, Laura, because 1895 is when Kelly started five generations ago, um, and I'm sure you have plans to continue it forever and a long, long time. Mary, you're 30 years in business, so a little shorter than Kelly's Hotel. Is the ambition for Bowdous to continue the journey? Is it going to be seven generations? Mary, do you have family involved more next generation family involved now?

SPEAKER_03 25:08

We don't have, we don't have at the moment. We don't, but we have a great team, Paula. Okay, super team. And we've probably been concentrating very much on that over the last ten years, building that team, upskilling the team, introducing more automation, more robotics, um, getting people away from that repetitive uh work and and getting them into a more um a higher value role. So very much we're building the team. We have a great team. Uh we're very fortunate, very fortunate. But again, it's I think it's Shay's uh people's skills, my own people's skills. We like people.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:41

We actually like working with people uh and being with them on a day-to-day basis. Um I I miss probably being on the floor as much as I would have been 10-15 years ago. I do miss that. Uh and sometimes the guys would say it, Mary, we we haven't seen you all week. Where were you? You know, and we miss you out here, you know, or somebody was having an issue with something. And well, if Mary was here, she you know, she wouldn't have, you know, said that or done that. So I'd always have the guys back. Always, always. So we very much work um as part of a team. So it's that strong team that I can see. Um I Paula, I have said to people at interview and even when we're doing some reviews with people in in the team, why have you not applied for my job? Really? You could do my job. Yes, I do. To get them thinking that way. Yeah, you know, why you know why not? I and sometimes you do get an astonished look, and I say, but why not? I I said, I in the 90s I I didn't know how to use a measuring tape. So if I can do it, you can do it. You know, so we're always encouraging that team to come up, step up, and it is happening. We're very encouraged, we're very happy with some really, really good guys and girls that are coming up. Um, we're we're very happy about it. So I'm hoping that any day now, any of that.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

The next generation it doesn't have to be family by both family by commitment.

SPEAKER_03 26:59

No, and like Paula said, you have to like and really love, not only like, but love the job, love, love what you're doing. You have to have a passion for it. Yeah you do. And I have built up great relationships all over Europe, all over the world, the US, uh, through palette and packaging um industry. Great colleagues, absolutely great colleagues. In 2014, I was asked on to the UK Palette and Packaging Association, the first Irish company to be invited on to represent the Irish palette manufacturers and the Irish sawmills. So to me, it's like a big, a big family. The industry is, which is which is wonderful, and very supportive of each other, which is yeah, really, really important.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

Laura, you and Grace are still very young as the current generation leading Kelly's. Is there another generation behind you who are going to take over someday?

SPEAKER_04 27:42

We'll have to wait and see. My children are currently eight, five, and three. So eight, five and three. Are you are you coaching them and coaching them now? I haven't carrying plates and things around the kitchen at home. That's an um they do actually. Um they they often they love coming to the hotel. And I guess that again, as I said to you before, growing up there, it was very much like I learnt about connections there and connecting with pe with people. And even I would have known customers coming as a child who I would have met again in college and I would have met again in school, which was lovely. And my kids love doing that, they love coming in, they love meeting the customers, going around and talking to some so it's lovely to see. But again, um, like I had said before, and I know Mary said too, like you need to love what you do, and you know, being a mother, you'd hate to see your kids doing something that they don't love doing and they don't want to do. So I would never force them to do anything, but I guess they've grown up in hospitality because my husband is in hospitality as well. So he has uh crossed wood fire pizza and wax. That's not with your husband. That's my husband Richard, yes. So uh there is uh kind of hospitality on both sides, so there's a toss-up as to whether they're gonna make pizzas or whether they're gonna come work in the hotel, yeah. Good choice, right? So we'll see, lots of choice. Sometimes they said they'll do a few days with him and then they'll do a few days with me. Yeah, so I guess we'd see. Would I love the hotel to continue? Absolutely, of course. Um I don't see it ending, yeah. Um, and I don't like I would never look at that for us. It really is about continuing on the legacy and keeping the hotel going. And I hopefully might be one of my children, and if it's not, that's okay as well. But hopefully we can continue things.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Yeah, both the businesses are deeply rooted in place in Rossler Strand and income outreach. How important do you think local identity is to your brand and your success?

SPEAKER_04 29:37

Yeah, I mean it's everything really, isn't it? Like Rossler, we wouldn't be anything without where we are. But it's not only like I guess you're so deeply rooted in the area in Wexer, but we're so lucky um as to that this is where we are, you know. Um, I mean, obviously there's the location, the beach, but when you look, like we're so blessed with so many amazing um suppliers, uh producers in the area, like when it comes to especially uh for well, I'm just speaking from my my point of view, our business, Mary, but like when it comes to like we're like we work with so many local producers, like when it comes to potato and meat, and you've got Richie Doyle and you've the fish, you know, and we're just you know, we really are blessed. Um, and then also the culture and everything that Wexford is about, whether it be and you do a fantastic job here in Wexford Chamber promoting all of that as well. But when it comes to the festivals, we have like people come from all over the world for like the Wexford Opera Festival, and now you've got the Lantern Festival, you've so many of these, you've the Strawberry Fair, and you know, we're we're so lucky. There's so much culture, there's so much history in Wexford, so many suppliers, and you know, I think it's really our identity and who we are.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

So I yeah, I think it's it is that, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 30:57

Um would I would ask myself, like, would Kelly's be who we are today if we weren't in the location that we in Rosslair Strand, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

Like it's uh it's like you're on holidays down in Rosslair Strand, isn't it? Yeah, it's stunning down there, absolutely stunning. And then you're next door to the harbour, which is the gateway into Europe. Yeah. 96 sailings a week coming in, 92 sailings a week going in and out of Rosslair.

SPEAKER_04 31:21

And it's only about to get bigger, you know, bigger down there with all the work and everything that they're doing.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

We're definitely seen as a we're definitely seen as a tourism tourism destination. 1.1 million domestic tourists a year come into Wexford. Um it's about getting them to stay in Wexford, I think. Yeah, absolutely. Because I think a lot of people we don't want them just use as a pasture, we want them to stay. And we want to encourage more international tourism too.

SPEAKER_03 31:45

What about Kim Mulkreach? Has that been It's a lovely I I simply I I every day as each day passes, I just feel so lucky. I did work for ten years in Dublin, loved every minute of before I got married, absolutely loved it, didn't travel as far, didn't do all those gap years and all those lovely things either that some students now do. Uh I didn't do that, but did love uh loved every minute of Dublin. But I'm so fortunate to be able to move back to the county that I'm from. Um and particularly in these geopolitical uh turbulent times. So lucky to l I can get up. I can I know in 30 odd minutes I'm I'm in my office. Uh there's nothing impacting me on the way, there's nobody stopping me or making life difficult for me as I travel. I um I I feel we're very fortunate and I do love uh Paula. I love that eight-minute trip in the summer from the desk to the beach, eight minutes, go for a swim on my way home. How fortunate. Uh and I love Rossleer as well. We're so fortunate in the county. We have so many, it was something we did during the pandemic. We tried to swim on a different beach every Sunday. There wasn't much else to do, so we set ourselves a little challenge. So we did do that many, many times in in Rossleer. And uh we've got our lovely food over in the in the lovely uh trough uh or the horse box over in the car park. So lovely memories of doing all of that. Yeah. Very lucky the county we're in. We also have a workforce coming from Gorye and from Ennisgarthy, probably probably half and half. So from a workforce point of view, it's lovely that we have a very good, well-educated workforce that's living close by 20 minutes, maybe half an hour from uh our our enterprise. Um would I get that anywhere else in the in in Ireland? I I don't know. I I just think we're very, very fortunate where we are. Access to the airport, in the airport, an hour and 20 minutes uh to the port in Rossleyer, how fortunate are we? Because you know, as I said earlier, we're we know we're islanders, we're always looking out. So we're sort of looking at what else we can be sending over to Wales and over to the UK. Having the port on our on our uh doorstep, how fortunate are we? A little bit further down the road, an airport. Hopefully, that that will also really open up the southeast. I think it's a lot of people. Yeah, Waterford Airport for every all our businesses.

SPEAKER_01 33:52

2027 opening up, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:54

Fantastic. So I I feel very fortunate. Very fortunate. If you want to go mountain walking, you can do mountains, uh river, kayaking, great life. The beach same here. Absolutely beautiful restaurants, beautiful hotels. We're very lucky. Yeah, we have it all. And that's very, very fortunate. I I feel very grateful. I'm I am very grateful to live in the county I live in.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

The stretch that you live on, you have like um Core Town, Cahore, Kerclo, Mars Castle. Stunning Kilmock Creek, Blackwater, another beautiful village. Beautiful, absolutely, isn't it? The whole coast road. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:27

Yeah, but you've got it going down that way, and then you have it going the whole other side as well, you know.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

And then down as far as Kilmore Key as well.

SPEAKER_03 34:34

And beyond, yeah, not all the way down to Hope Pads and everything. Yeah, even out down as far as Arthur Town Pass. The whole we're very, very far.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Dollar Bay, yeah. There's so many, isn't there? Beautiful. 260 kilometres of coastline in County Wexford and the most stunning beaches for sure. So lucky. Let's talk about a proud moment. So you have achieved a lot in terms of your own careers to date. Um, what's been the proudest moment for you?

SPEAKER_03 34:58

Paula, that's a big one. That's a big one. Something we probably have been poor on is celebrating the many, many, many wins over the years. Okay. We're getting better at it. I have to say, maybe the last five, six years we're getting better. But we are always on to onto the next. Onto the next. Because it is about giving the best always to the customer. And it's a bit like customers' tastes are changing. Okay, they're not eating the palette, but in terms of how the delivery is, you know, uh, and what we want to get to a situation where we're managing a lot of their stocks for them. So we're taking that bit of pain away from them. And we're saying, hey, we can do that for you. So it's about uh almost giving them the uh a nicer experience and a different experience. They're still getting the palette and still getting it delivered, but maybe taking away a bit of pain around the palette that that might might exist for them. Um see the way she's gone back to talking about business again.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

Talk about yourself, what you're proud of. I'll tell you what I'm proud of, Mary, for your work on acorns. That's great. Talk to us about your acorn work. That's yes, I am very proud of that.

SPEAKER_03 36:01

I must say by giving back. Yes, that's indeed. I'm giving back. Um I did a management development programme in 2014, going for growth, and probably was a game changer for the business. It probably was. Uh, we had been busy doing what we were doing up to 2014, and I was identified as somebody that would, it was Enterprise Ireland were very kindly identified me as somebody that could benefit from the programme, and I'm too busy, too busy. And it was a year my mum passed away, and uh great lady, great business lady as well, in uh she was in her 90th year, and I suppose I could see a little bit of uh spare time that that that now had had come about and was always like uh mum had moved aside, so you have a bit of spare time there, you you know you should use it uh productively now and go and do something. So I said, yes, maybe I will. So I was interviewed and accepted onto the programme. Great programme, Paula Fitzsimons uh powerhouse uh Fitzsimons Consulting, she runs the Going for Growth programme and many other programs. And in 2000, then I finished the management development programme, and out of that I was identified as somebody that would be a good lead on a pilot that the Department of Agriculture were running. And they asked Paula then would they would she design the programme and they would pilot it uh the following year? And it's um it's the Acorns programme, it's called for female entrepreneurs in rural Ireland to help them grow scale a business. And I again I did say, Oh Paula, I haven't time, I haven't time and then uh she pleaded she's very good at having the coffee with you and twisting the arm. So I said, I'll do the pilot and then I'm off. Um this is our 11th year, and every year there's 50 participants on the programme. So 550 have gone through the programme. I've there's one here on the table, Bean and Goose Chocolate. Um Natalie, if you ever have Bean and Goose.

SPEAKER_04 37:46

Absolutely anything.

SPEAKER_03 37:48

Software developers, chocolate manufacturers, um jewellery makers, uh whole of skincare people in the world. Oh, were they on it? Neve was one of my first participants. Nikki Heine, she was my shining armor now. Nikki Heine, she was yes, Nikki. Nikki was one of my my my babies. Um so it's a huge a fantastic programme. There's seven leads in Ireland, and I was on the East Coast, say, from Louth down to North Cork. Um it's a super programme with 50 every year on it, and it's it's it's um it's a round table meeting you have with your eight participants, and I always say to them at the first meeting, this is your board. You cannot afford a board but now you have one. Make the best use of this board for the next six months uh so they can and oftentimes I find over the years that the problems are the same, be it around maybe finance or HR or marketing, oftentimes so they can learn it's it's about peer learning, learning from one another, helping one another, uh, sharing ideas and a great confidence in the room. Because I I find, and Laura uh your your own might be a little bit different, but I would have found that great friends uh and great family, but they may not necessarily want to hear Mary so excited about making pallets or about the business. So now you know you have found this group, as I said, uh board that you can talk about your business, cry about it, laugh about it in confidence. So it has worked. It's it's a great uh it's a great program, Paula. Uh the Department of Agriculture have been blown away with the success of it. Even the the first year of the pandemic, I think the cumulative turnover was around 800,000 over the 50 participants, and by the end of the programme it had gone up to 1.8 million. Really?

SPEAKER_01 39:38

How long did the program last?

SPEAKER_03 39:39

Uh six months. Six months. Yeah, that was a phenomenal year, absolutely phenomenal. Uh a lot of those companies now have become exporters. Joe Brown, uh Joe Brown perfumes, you know, Joe Brown. Oh, yeah. Joe. Joe is was another participant. Um Joe actually is exporting to 42 countries now. She had started at her kitchen table. So it's about getting people away from the kitchen table, um, getting away from the hobby. Or we're we're quite uh we're nice, we have teeth, but the leads will say, is this a hobby or is this a business? Because if you want a business, you need a break, you need to be able to take a holiday. You need to build a team, you need to start thinking about employing people.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

So just a little bit proud of that, Mary, right? Yes. Just a little bit proud.

SPEAKER_03 40:19

Delighted to be there. And I'm still there. Oh, I don't know what I'm proud of. I'm still there and delighted. Delighted to give back, Paula. Again, I think you know, you should give back in any way that you can when you're in business. Uh, and to help others, pull them up, pull them up, push them up, get them up whatever way you can, but just give them that little bit of a boost and and um a push to the next level. Neve's doing fantastic. She is, isn't she? Hall of skin getting brilliant. I love it, I use it.

SPEAKER_04 40:42

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

Laura, proud moment.

SPEAKER_04 40:44

Oh, hang on now, because you're not a put me before, Mary.

unknown 40:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:49

Let me see. I'm just just trying to balance life a little bit at the moment. Um I have achieved nothing as far as what Mary's ongoing is some achievement, but keeping it ongoing, keeping it ongoing. Keeping everything going, isn't it? Um, I guess achievement, like in terms of like the hotel. Um, I do feel like we like since I've been there, obviously we've had the pandemic and there's just been so many challenges, I guess. Do you know there's been so many challenges along the way, and I feel like getting through there, it allowed us to actually innovate. It was during that time that we the idea for the sea rooms came about, the new garden restaurant, um, with the views over the sea, because what we did during the during COVID was when we needed everyone. Obviously, you needed to, well, it was open, closed, open, closed, changing rules every single day. I'm sure it was the same for yourself. It was very challenging. We won't open. But were you? Uh, but we saw an opportunity during this time because we had to social distance. So we ended up putting like a we got this uh tent that went out, you know, one of those um South African uh cool tents out. We put it on the tennis court and we got some food trucks and things like that. So people could social distance so they could eat outside um as well. So that's really where the idea. So I don't know where how we got to the sea rooms, but it really started from this from this small idea. We're like, wow, this is really interesting. Just people having different um options, different dining options around the hotel. So I guess from a difficult, challenging time, being able to see opportunity and to move forward with it and see a gap in the market. And I guess, you know, we are really proud of the C rooms. And you know what? Uh, we spoke earlier, and we've spoken throughout this about innovating and doing, you know, when we spoke about how certain things that would have excited us years ago when it comes to the tangible products used to, like a spa used to excite us, the swimming pools would excite us. And we had the first swimming indoor swimming pool in Ireland, we one of the first spas, do you know, as part of a resort hotel in Ireland. So all these things were, I guess, a first, and it's something that people were really excited about at the time, but now it's become the norm. So for us to be honest, we don't obviously this is really important and innovating is really important to us, but what's of most important to us isn't really the tangibles, it's very much the intangibles because you can't change how people like it's it's all about a feeling and it's how people leave. So for us, honestly, the most important thing is the intangible and it's the feeling. And what I would say is always, and I say to new people coming in, because it's really important that the team have the same culture and ideas and concept as yourself. And when I say to them, I always ask them, I said, are service and hospitality the same thing? Do you know? And most people would say, Well, yeah, you go, you know, service and hospitality in a hotel. And I'm like, no, it's it's actually not the same. Service is very much like you go to a restaurant, like it's a step-by-step process, and that's what it's is explaining. Expected, but hospitality goes over and beyond service, you know. So for us, it's about focusing on that personalization, on the feeling, on the connection that we spoke about earlier, and just being able to do small things for the customers that excites them and goes over and beyond what they're actually expecting.

SPEAKER_01 44:20

That's brilliant. I like the description between service and hospitality. I'm going to finish on three questions. So the first one is the person. What person, so a business leader, a colleague, or a mentor has kind of made a big impact in you in your life? I do like Michael O'Leary. Michael O'Leary. I do personally.

SPEAKER_03 44:39

I I've met him very briefly. Okay. Very briefly. I just like his can-do attitude. He's no nonsense. I I just I like the way he does business. Now he has infuriated me many times. Many occasions when I've had to pay extra because I was two or three pages at work. Yes. So he has infuriated me. But I do, I do love and he sees a positive in everything. And and it it I I just like the way he he does and runs the business. Um and I'm very proud it's one of the it is the largest airline in the world. I I when I'm abroad, I'm always delighted to to sing the praises of Ryanair. And I think he's done a lot for Irish industry. Yeah. Um back again, early 90s, we went to Liverpool Shea and I went to Liverpool for a day. We couldn't afford to go for longer. And um I I'm quite sure that each flight was £358, I think, at the or I'm not sure, was it pounds or or euro? It was a lot of money. It was a lot of money to go for the day, to look at a machine. So Michael has made it easier for us to get off the rock, to get out, to be more curious more often, to learn more, and then to learn and soak up all of what we learn around the world and bring that back here to be better people, better companies, a better country. So I I do attribute that to him. I I think he's done a great service and he he doesn't uh always get recognized for that, recknowledge for that. I think the country owes him a lot. I really do. I really do.

SPEAKER_04 46:08

He's transformed the industry, really, hasn't it? Really has, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:10

It's such an interesting but all of our I think all of our businesses, because it's made travel easier, more accessible.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:17

People like Michael Leary, Dennis O'Brien, what what they've done for the country is incredible, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. If those high prices, uh travel high prices would have stayed as high as they were uh pre um Ryanair, it would have been more difficult for businesses to travel and and to grow and to learn and to scale.

SPEAKER_04 46:34

Yeah. What about you, Laura? I'm going to go for like more of a cheesy answer. We have to every answer. It's been working with uh probably my dad and learning from him. And you know, I guess maybe that goes with the whole legacy of things. Like um my grandmother, I was very quo close to her as well. She passed away a year ago, um, yeah, a year Christmas ago. But she was very instrumental in the hotel and keeping things going. So I guess you know, it's was you know, it's been lovely being able to learn, I guess, from them, from from my dad, and you know, and hopefully we can kind of pass that, pass that on as well. But you know, it's nice to be able to see the influence from the outside world as well. But yeah, no, it is.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

It's great to see a female leader from that generation having built such a strong legacy as well, and then you're obviously kind of living it now as well and leading it. Um, so your grandmother obviously said great practice in case. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:31

She was a yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:33

She was a she knew what she wanted. She knew what she wanted.

SPEAKER_04 47:36

Yes, which is good, isn't it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

The next is a place. So a place in Wexsterdam means something to you. It could be a place to eat or could be just a place to go.

SPEAKER_03 47:45

Do you know I'd have to say I do love Ross Leyer. I love Ross Leyer Kelly's. They do so because it's that high standard. You know it's going to be good. If there's a family occasion, if I have visitors, I don't have to think twice about it. I know the standard won't change, regardless of what's going on in the geopolitical world, the standard, I can trust it. So I do, I do love Ross Leyer. Putting in the beach and and the and the the coastline in Wexford, so the Rosslayer and the whole coastline, it means a lot to me. I love I love the water, I love the beach. Um so that doesn't mean an awful lot to me. I don't think I would survive or I don't think I could thrive if I was away too from water too too much. Yeah, I don't know how I hear that a lot. Yeah, I don't think I could. I honestly uh and as years pass, the water means a lot to me. I love the sea, absolutely love the sea. Yeah, so it's very calming, isn't it? Oh, absolutely, love it. Well, as children, I suppose we were introduced from a very early age. Courtown would have been our our local beach, uh, and that was our outing, that was the full uh uh extent of your outing. Every Sunday during the summer you went to the beach and went for a swim. Uh so instilled from a very young age, but I'm more appreciative of maybe as as time goes by, all of the coastline uh and right down to Roslayer uh and what gellies do. Okay. Thanks, Mary. That's very kind. No, I mean that because you can always rely on it. I look forward to seeing you in there now soon. Yeah. You can always rely on it. Or if I'm recommending, if somebody is coming, some of my customers from anywhere in Ireland or in Europe are coming to Ireland, I I without hesitation. Yeah. Well, that's very kind.

SPEAKER_04 49:17

Thank you very much. Yeah. I guess the place for me is probably well, it's Rustler, it's the strand, isn't it? I grew up there, I came back to live there. Um, like Mary, I just love being by the sea. Um, I love the beach. It's just it's just such a lovely way of life, I guess, being close to the beach. It's just um, I don't know, it just has a bit of a hold over you, doesn't it? Uh yeah, just the strand, just being down there, seeing my kids now grow up there and going to the school. They go to school down there, and I'm now meeting the people who I was in school with, dropping their kids off. Do you know? So it's just, yeah, it's it's funny how things do full circle, you know, but it's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

And the activities in Ross. Well, every we're really all across the country.

SPEAKER_04 50:05

Activities for kids these days. Yeah, it's brilliant. And we've the community centre in Rosslair as well. Like we've got two paddle courts, we've got, you know, the all-weather pitch, you've got a running track, like Rosslair Strand itself has like invested so much in the community and uh in its facilities and things like that as well. So I think it's really a fantastic place to live or to be near.

SPEAKER_01 50:27

The last is the plea. So a plea to government. If you would like for one thing for government to work on for our county and country, um, what would that be?

SPEAKER_03 50:38

The plea pod would be for the county for uh the the good sense in our very good county council. I think we're very fortunate for very good council here. If some way uh they could find a way uh to clean the Slaney River to give uh those homeowners and those businesses uh peace of mind. They've been flooded for the last 50-60 years. I find it heartbreaking driving through town. I'm driving to my lovely business to do my lovely days' work and I see what happens after a flood. I see the build-up, I almost feel the tension, the build-up to a flood if the weather warnings are are not so good. That would be my plea if they could find some way to clean out the river, to let the water flow flee freely through the town, yeah, to give those homeowners and those businesses peace of mind to live happily in their homes and for them to run their businesses.

SPEAKER_01 51:32

Um the recent floods in Ennisgorty and Bunklody and Bridgetown, the impact is just it's just devastating really.

SPEAKER_03 51:38

I couldn't imagine living with it. I actually couldn't imagine living with the fear of you know coming downstairs in the morning and seeing water coming in your door or already after coming in. So that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 51:50

It was one of my two letters to government this year this week. Um I had sent one to Minister Boxer Moorne um a couple of weeks ago about flood relief in general in Ennisgorty, and then this week to Minister Brown about the relief plans and kind of the thresholds they have in place, which I think need to be pushed a bit more to not leave some businesses out because of the amount of staff they have. But yeah, that that's a big one, an important one.

SPEAKER_03 52:15

I it's a very important one. And I've d there there's a solution to every problem. I I don't see it as a huge problem. I never see problems anyway. That's why I'm always accused of that. Well, you don't see the problem. No, I never see the problem, I see the solution. Yeah, so just go and do it. Yes, you know it's and maybe we'll bring Michael Michael down for a coffee and bring him to Ross Lair and then bring him. And maybe Michael will help us with uh with a solution. But just go and do it. It must be very difficult for those people living in that fear all of the time. I did hear one business saying uh along the quay, uh Joe Barney, I think he said he has been flooded sixteen times, the saddler.

SPEAKER_01 52:46

Because he did saddler shop.

SPEAKER_03 52:47

Yeah, yeah. Sixteen times. I don't know I couldn't run a business. Couldn't run a business because there is enough coming up businesses every day. You're meeting challenges every day, that's business. But that's a very difficult one that I believe we all could. Put the shoulder to the wheel, and there are good people in Westford County Council, and I would plead to them, find a solution.

SPEAKER_01 53:08

Yeah, well, I think the the bigger problem is goes beyond Wexford County Council is government level, that blood relief plan. Okay, um, for sure. But um, yeah, no good one. Laura.

SPEAKER_04 53:17

Yeah, but I think like you said there, like that's devastating what's happened to those businesses, to the families, to people, to their homes. Like it's awful. But I think it's very much about like forward planning. Like, how has this not happened yet? Do you know? Um, but it's yeah, I really hope that they can do they can do something about it, you know, in the like sooner rather than later, you know. Yeah. Um, but I think you asked for a plea as well, and I know you've mentioned that, which I think is really important, Mary, but I guess it's it's probably um relevant, I guess, to us. We've been big on the coastal erosion as well, and I think like this is something that is going on for years and years now, and it's for like it's this forward planning that we talk about. Like, how has nothing happened about it yet? Like, we met with ministers and government officials back in 2018, and they had said that there was 7.5 million worth of funding for um the coastal erosion in Rosslair, and like we haven't seen a penny of that cent spent since 2018, and this winter in particular has been horrific. Like, if you look in not only just in front of the hotel, but like you know, the whole way up the coast, and it's not just, I guess we know Ross Lair, and that's why we're speaking about Rosslair, but we're not the only place that this is happening to, but like it's just it's just crazy. Like they did start the coastal erosion project in Rosslair back in the 80s, and which is great and which worked, and it worked for a very long time, but that part of that coastal erosion project at the time when they were doing it was that that this needed to be maintained every couple of years, and nothing's been done about it, you know. So it's really we're really fighting at the moment to get them moving on this, you know. And I guess we speak because Ross Lair is what we know and we're pushing for it, but it needs to happen, but it needs to happen everywhere, you know, um, all around, up and down, County Wexford. And I guess it's not only just localized to Wexford, it's all over the country. But when you like you can take examples from other countries, like um, for example, the Netherlands. I mean, they more or less live underwater, and like how do they not have flooding? Do you know? But it's very much like forward thinking, it's the planning in place, and it's having a long-term plan and a long-term project. And I think we really need to push for that. Like, we are an island, we have the sea on all sides. Like, we can't afford to have coastal erosion anywhere, really, or there'll be nothing left of us.

SPEAKER_01 55:45

I think it's exactly as you say, Laura, it's the forward planning and the delivery. All too often we hear government commit a very large and significant budget to a problem, but then the delivery doesn't always happen.

SPEAKER_04 55:57

It seems to just fall between the the lines when a new government comes in. Like, I can't understand why plans kind of why there's no continuity. Like, I mean, people in terms of like their businesses like yourself, 30 years or slonger, like you have like a long-term plan and focus, and we need to like it needs to be the same for them. They can't just drop a project once they're out of, you know, once they're out of government and there's a new people in. There needs to be a continuity for all these, like, whether it be the flood relief, whether it be coastal erosion, or for any project, really. Do you know? It's uh it's just very frustrating because you're doing your best to work hard at it, and we need to we need them to cooperate and we need them on board for the future of not just for Asselair but for County Wexford for all every process, it's everywhere, it's all over Ireland, yeah. I I met with Eddie Taft and his leadership team up in Wexter County Council there on Monday, and we talked about various other projects like um, I have to say, do you know Eddie Taft's always been really good to us and very receptive and I only have good things, you know, but I think it's even it's beyond beyond because it's it's beyond him.

SPEAKER_01 56:59

Um, and he he knows obviously we're an advocacy and lobbying organization, and he encouraged us to keep pushing on the advocacy work until it's contract signed. And it goes back to the point government are allocating budgets to an issue, but we want contracts signed, we want delivery.

SPEAKER_04 57:18

But we had a budget of like they have it, yes, 7.5 million in 2018. And here we are, not nothing's nothing's happened. Yeah, we need a plan. Yeah, we need a plan for the whole for that whole area for for Russell Air and beyond. Yeah, and the beaches, not just businesses, but family homes as well. Yeah, absolutely, 100%. It must be frightening.

SPEAKER_01 57:36

So ladies, thank you so much. This was brilliant. I love you for that. I thought I knew about your businesses and yourselves. Um, Laura, Mary, thank you for joining me. Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_04 57:46

Pleasure, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 57:49

Thanks for listening to this episode of Business Connections. For more information on County Wexford Chamber and how it is working to shape Wexford's future as a great place to work, live, and do business. Visit CountywexfordChamber.ie. The recording of this podcast is supported by Leader.