Minutes of the 82nd Meeting of the Board of InterTradeIreland, the Trade and Business Development Body.
Thursday 20th March 2008 - North West Regional College, Londonderry (10:30am-1.30pm)
Present:
Board Members:
Dr David Dobbin CBE Chairman
Mr Brendan Butler
Mr Ray Doherty
Mr Sean Gallagher
Mr Jack Gilmour
Mr Hugh Logue
Mr Padraig MacLochlainn
Dr Gerard O'Hare
Mr Tom Scott
Executive:
Mr Liam Nellis Chief Executive
Mr Aidan Gough Director, Strategy & Policy
Mr Laurence Lord Corporate Services Director
Ms Catriona Regan Operations Director
Mr Dermot O'Doherty Senior Adviser
Mr Harry Hamill Board Secretary
Welcome from the North West Regional College.
Mr Seamus Murphy, Director of the North West Regional College, joined the Board Meeting and welcomed the Board to the College and to the North West.
NORIBIC/WESTBIC Presentation.
Dr Barney Toal of NORIBIC, the Northern Ireland Business and Innovation Centre, and Mr Joe Greaney of WESTBIC, the Business & Innovation Centre in the Border, Midland & Western region of Ireland, presented on the work of their organisations and its relevance to InterTradeIreland.
Their presentation covered the following topics:
- The history and role of the Business Innovation Centres within the EU.
- Work programme profiles.
- Distributed service model, key roles and infrastructure.
- Partnerships.
- The Cross-Border BIC (CBBIC) launched in March 2008.
- Example initiatives and programmes.
- Current BIC involvement with InterTradeIreland - Build-Up, NWSTP, Halo.
- Potential for InterTradeIreland-BIC Network strategic partnership.
Apologies.
Apologies were received from Mr John Fitzgerald, Ms Patricia McKeown and Ms Rosaleen Doherty.
Authorisation of Previous Minutes.
The Minutes of the 26th February 2008 Board Meeting were approved by the Board and authorised by the Chairman.
Matters Arising.
Mr Nellis updated the Board on Matters Arising from the February 2008 Board Meeting.
Chairman's Business.
The Chairman reported that he had met with Minister Dodds MP MLA, and that the meeting had been constructive. He also noted that he and Liam Nellis had attended St. Patrick's Day events in Washington DC at the invitation of the US Consul General in Belfast. The Chairman reported a meeting with Sir David Varney to present InterTradeIreland's input to the Varney Review, and meetings with Sinn Féin's OFMDFM team and with the party's economic team led by Mitchel McLaughlin MLA, Sinn Féin's economy spokesperson.
Chief Executive's Report.
Mr Nellis presented highlights from his Chief Executive's Report, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting.
Corporate Services Report.
Accounts.
Mr Lord presented the InterTradeIreland Accounts for February 2008. The Board noted the Accounts.
The Board approved a change to the current Letter of Offer for the Ireland HALO Business Angel Network with the Dublin Business Innovation Centre.
Mr Lord's Financial Commentary and Statements recorded that final draft financial statements for year ending 31st December 2007 had been forwarded to the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) and that NIAO audit fieldwork was scheduled to start in late March 2008.
Mr Lord's written report also noted that the body's Internal Auditors, BDO Stoy Hayward, had commenced their final 2007 audit, with the areas under review being Corporate Governance, Programme Spend, Travel & Subsistence, Bank, Cash and Fixed Assets.
Communications Update.
The Board noted the update on InterTradeIreland's external communications activity, which included information on editorials, publications, communications activity at project level, current tenders for services and sponsorships. The Board endorsed the Communications Sub Committee approval of a media sponsorship deal with Irish Entrepreneur for a six-part regional series of features, running bi-monthly and starting in April 2008 at a cost of €19,995 plus VAT.
2008 Business Plan Progress Report.
Mr Gough presented the January 2008 Business Plan Progress Report and Business Plan Commentary, providing detailed information on each project in relation to emerging issues, progress against milestones, expenditure against calendarised budgets, and a budget variance report.
Mr Gough highlighted two Business Plan projects for the Board's attention. The Board noted the contents of the Business Plan Progress Report.
Trade Statistics Update.
Dr Stephen Roper of Warwick University and Dr Edgar Morgenroth of the Economic & Social Research Institute joined the Board Meeting to present an update on their work on the InterTradeIreland Trade Statistics Project - Investigation into North/South Trade Statistics. An interim report of the first phase of the project was also made available.
The presentation and following discussion addressed issues such as the reliability of each data series, the value of comparison with other trans-regional models, the value of a sectoral analysis using existing data, InterTradeIreland's role as an agent to change methodologies North and South to allow for reconciled information and what steps might be taken to encourage the participation of other organisations towards this end.
EquityNetwork.
The Board approved the 2008 EquityNetwork All Island Seedcorn Competition, and associated total budget of £413,000 inclusive of VAT.
Third Party Proposal - 'Network & Getwork' - Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce & Industry
(NICCI ) and Dublin Chamber of Commerce.
Mr Paul Holloway and Ms Kathryn Doherty of KPMG joined the Board Meeting and presented the findings of an Economic Appraisal conducted on this proposal.
Mr Frank Hewitt Chief Executive NICCI, and Ms Gina Quin, Chief Executive of Dublin Chamber of Commerce joined the Board Meeting and submitted their proposal, detailing strategic fit from the perspective of the proposers and InterTradeIreland, and the project's aims, structure and governance arrangements.
The Board approved the proposal presented by the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Dublin Chamber of Commerce for a two-year North/South Buyer-Supplier Programme, at a maximum cost of £358,400/c€462,336, inclusive of VAT, on condition that the promoters agree in advance to 'InterTradeIreland Network & Getwork 3' branding.
Any other business.
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