The annual Taste of Monaghan Festival took an exciting new turn with the Monaghan Street Food Festival which took place on Saturday 28^th September 2019.  The event took place in the centre of Monaghan Town and was a celebration of the ever-changing food scene in Monaghan.

The event showcased much of the local food produce available in Co Monaghan and the wider region, with over 50 exhibitors on the day.  Even with a few showers of rain on the day it certainly didn’t deter visitors.

There was also a great host of local as well as celebrity chefs taking to the stage of the demo kitchen throughout the day with the tent packed out during every demo.

Ballybay Food Hub hosted a talk on future food trends.  The aim of the talk was to bring together food businesses within the region to help them gain an insight into future food trends.

Guest speaker of the evening, Stephane Durand is Director of the Agri-Food Quest Competence Centre based at Queens University Belfast.  He has over 20 years’ experience working in the food industry throughout the EU specialising in new product and process development.

The talk was well attended by both large and small food companies from both the border Region and Northern Ireland.  Stephane gave details of the challenges facing food producers in the coming years and not too distant future which included how we feed 10 billion people by 2050!  He also gave details of the upcoming opportunities in areas such as plant-based products, insects as well as looking at how we produce our dairy and meat products going forward.

Stephane also discussed in great detail the issue of sustainability and the environment in food production.  He concluded that while there are great challenges going forward for global food production there are also great opportunities as well.

After a competitive tender process, Ballybay Enterprise Park Ltd are delighted to announce the appointment of Rodney Brady Construction for the refurbishment and upgrade of five 1,500 sq ft units into state-of-the-art food grade production units. The LEADER supported project is part of a €400,000 plus investment in the park to create a Food Hub in the area for artisan and start up food businesses. It will build upon the county’s long food heritage in an industry that already has a turnover of over €1bn within the county and accounts for approximately 60% of its employment.

The refurbished Ballybay Food Hub will allow new business access to purpose-built food grade units. These will complement the existing food kitchen at the site which is regularly used by local food producers as well as regional training organisations. Finbarr Daly, CEO of Enterprising Monaghan which is one of the partner organisations involved in the project says that these units will be a great asset to the area supporting both new food projects and employment for Ballybay and its environs. He added that the support of LEADER is crucial to this phase of the project. The construction work which will start in the coming weeks is expected to be finished before Christmas this year with some tenants planning to move in early in 2020.

For more information visit: www.enterprisningmonaghan.ie

Group photo: Rodney Brady (R. Brady Construction); Peter McGonigle (Craft Studio Architects); Finbarr Daly (Enterprise Monaghan); Siobhan Sherry – Food Hub Manager; Finbarr Dunwoody (FJD Quantity Surveyors)

Note to Editor:

For more information, please contact Finbarr Daly, CEO Enterprising Monaghan.

E: finbarr@enterprisingmonaghan.ie

T: 047 75255

Remote working is one of the fastest growing work areas in Ireland. It is where employees have the opportunity to work remotely, full time or part-time, from home or a local hot desk facility. Employers are recognising the benefit of this flexible work arrangement from both a productivity and the quality of the life perspective.

The advent of smart new technologies and suitable hotdesking facilities near home means that many people and their companies are benefiting from this new way of working. Jobs in this area include IT, customer sales and service as well as accountancy and bookkeeping roles. Employers in the area include traditional companies such as the banks and consultancy firms in Dublin as well as new economy firms like Shopify and Wayfair.

With this in mind, Enterprising Monaghan, Monaghan County Council and The Monaghan Town Team have joined forces to deliver a remote working training programme at Enterprising Monaghan’s hot desk facility in M:Tek 1. The programme which recently started aims to train aspirant remote workers in the processes and procedures that they will need for careers in the area. Finbarr Daly, CEO of Enterprising Monaghan, as well as welcoming the programme participants was delighted to introduce Tracy Keogh, co-founder of Grow Remote to the workshop. Tracy is passionate about making sure that people know that there are great opportunities through this approach to work – literally at home on your laptop!

For more information visit: www.enterprisningmonaghan.ie

Photo:

• Group photo: Some of the Grow Remote Training Participants with Tracy Keogh, Co-Founder of Grow Remote and Finbarr Daly, CEO Enterprising Monaghan
• Second Photo: Grow Remote attendee, Egan Maxton who is originally from South Africa but is now living on Monaghan arriving for the training on his uni-cycle.

Note to Editor:

For more information, please contact Finbarr Daly, CEO Enterprising Monaghan.
E: finbarr@enterprisingmonaghan.ie
T: 047 75255