Galway Independent Column - 10 November 2010

It was great news for Galway last week with the launch of 50 new jobs by Industrial Info Resources (IIR). The Texan market research company acquired the former Global Marketing Technologies in Ballybrit and will recruit in the areas of research, sales and administration. As Minister Batt O’Keefe said at the announcement, it is indeed, a vote of confidence in Galway.

Confidence is in pretty short supply at the moment. It’s defined as ‘belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing’ as in ‘We have every confidence in their ability to succeed’ and also ‘belief in oneself and one's powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance’ as in ‘His lack of confidence defeated him’.

It’s a powerful thing, confidence. It can be the difference between success and failure. The holding pattern in which we find ourselves as businesses and as a country, is largely dependent on our confidence in the upcoming Budget and the Government’s ability to get it right. Not only must we have confidence in Government but the rest of the world must have it too. Our credibility on the world stage is a matter of the confidence that international bond markets and all potential investors have in us. That in turn impacts on our spending patterns as businesses and individually. Spending decisions and the timing of those decisions is affected by this confidence.

Deloitte have just published a report on consumer spending which shows that overall spending will fall by 10% this Christmas but despite this cutback we are still topping the spending ladder among our European neighbours. Only Luxembourg spends more. The respondents to the survey here said that their prudent spend will be a result of a fear that the economic downturn will get worse. There is no doubt that there is a new economic reality but our confidence as consumers directly affects our business confidence and ultimately Ireland Inc’s confidence.

At a press conference post 9/11 Rudy Giuliani, encouraging the people of New York to resume their normal lives said: ‘Show your confidence. Show you're not afraid. Go to restaurants. Go shopping’. While there is no comparison between the atrocity that was 9/11 and an economic downturn, the belief in confidence as an enabler is obvious. Our pre-Budget to Government is entitled: ‘Keep Jobs, Create Confidence, Cut Costs’ and will be submitted this week. Should any Chamber Members have submissions for inclusion please email michael@galwaychamber.com