Press release from Meath County Chamber
17.09.21
Meath Business Owners Network - September Meeting
After a short summer break the Meath Business Owners network met over Zoom this Friday the 17th of September. Participants were delighted to get together again to network with their industry peers and keep up to date with business activity in the County. The meeting was once again chaired by Raymond Gibbons of BMS accountancy. The Meath Business Owners Network is a partnership between County Meath Chamber and Meath Local Enterprise office and is sponsored by Pinergy and Permanent TSB.
The meeting started on a high note with a visit from Vicky Wall, Meath All Ireland winning champion. Vicky has only recently graduated from a Business Studies Degree from DCU and is about to embark on her Master’s in Digital Marketing. When asked how she kept going with college and football Vicky explained how the last year of college from home helped her dedicate more time to training. Vicky and her teammates are avid supporters of the MÍ Meath card- “We are all great supporters of local business and we are honoured to be putting our name behind this initiative in Meath”. Meath LGFA are holding a golf classic in Knightsbrook Hotel on the 22nd of October and Vicky urged all business owners to support the organisation in any small way they can.
September’s meeting focused on ‘Legal Advice for Small Business Owners’ and featured a panel discussion with Johanna Lacy (Johanna Lacy Solicitors) & Orla Shevlin (Tallans Solicitors). Johanna and Orla had some great advice for small business owners around the issues of remote working, contracts, terms and conditions and GDPR.
As of Monday, the 20th September a gradual return to the workplace can take place for those employees who are working from home. Johanna Lacy explained the issues that this may bring for employers and employees. “If your employees contract states the place of work then that is still valid. However, new legislation will be coming in to give the employee the right to request to work from home.” Employers need to consider this new legislation very carefully in order to avoid the WRC. If employers are asking or facilitating employees to work from home, they need to consider the Health and Safety implications as well as their insurance provisions.
In regards contracts, Orla Shevlin explained what employers should be focusing on. “Don’t get bogged down in the format of a contract- it’s the content that’s important. You will find a lot of good advice and help on the WRC website. Focus on getting your policies and procedures right and make sure you are following them” Orla added that employment legislation is there to protect the employee and employers need to follow the letter of the law when it comes to the employee contract.
Both Johanna and Orla then went through the need for clear T&C’s whether it was for B2B contracts or B2C contracts. Terms and conditions cannot be waived in your favour and your commercial agreement needs to be set out clearly. GDPR was also touched on and Orla stressed the importance of contacting the Data protection commissioner first if you have a high-level data breach. A data breach constitutes any loss of control of personal data referring to a customer or client.
After a breakout session where participants spoke about any queries they had or any referrals they were looking for, Paula McCaul welcomed new Chamber members. They included the new Technology café in Navan and Andrew Mawhood Financial Consultant. Both businesses kindly spoke about their new respective businesses, and you will find their details on the Meath Chamber Business Directory. Navan Racecourse were congratulated on their 100th birthday this week. An active member of Meath County Chamber, this is an amazing milestone for the racecourse.
Meath Chamber will be holding a Business Meeting with Minister Damien English on the 01st of October ahead of Budget ‘22. On the 17th of October the quarterly Meath Women in Business and Technology event will be held and the next MBON will be held on the 22nd of October. All very important dates for your diary.
To register for any of the above events, please keep an eye on the County Meath Chamber social media pages or www.countymeathchamber.ie. Pre-registration is necessary. To sign up to accept the Mí Meath card, claim your free listing on the Meath Business Directory or to become a member just email info@countymeathchamber.ie or call 046 9046060