The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) would like to remind businesses across Northern Ireland that the extended deadline for entry for this year’s awards closes on Friday 19th March 2010. The awards recognise the best in the marketing profession and they are free to enter.

The Awards were launched during Marketing Week back in October 2009. This year alongside the awards which will take place on Thursday, 20th May at Belfast’s Ramada Hotel, the Institute will be hosting ‘BRAND New 2010’.

This is CIM’s first-ever conference and it will focus on successful all-island brands. Delegates will hear from the people behind some of Ireland’s best known brands and participate in a range of interactive workshops. Speakers include Gavin Bell, Social Marketing expert and author of ‘Building Social Web Applications’ and University of Ulster Professor Stephen Brown whose publications include ‘The Lost Logo’ and ‘Harry Potter Brand Wizard’. The Awards ceremony will take place on the evening of the conference.

Michael Maguire, Director of CIM Ireland said, “We have always had a good response to the awards from local businesses. We hope this year local companies will continue to compete to show innovative, creative but not necessarily expensive marketing techniques can help businesses through the current economic climate.”

To download an information pack or for further information on exhibition, sponsorship or delegate packages please log onto www.cimireland.org .Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cimireland

ENDS
Award categories are as follows:

Sectoral Excellence Awards
Marketing Excellence Award (Manufacturing Sector) 2010
Marketing Excellence Award (Services Sector) 2010
Marketing Excellence Award (Retail Sector) 2010
Marketing Excellence Award (Social & Public Sector) 2010
Professional Excellence Awards
Best Marketing Campaign 2010
Best On-Line Marketing Programme 2010
Best Brand Programme 2010
Best Marketing Team 2010
Best Performing Young Marketing Business 2010
Best Performing Marketing Business 2010

Personal Excellence Awards
Young Marketer of the Year (2010)
Marketing Director of the Year (2010)

Tuesday at the Assembly…

And so it comes to pass…. our MLAs will at last get their hands on devolved Policing & Justice powers with the OFMDFM motion proposing that ‘certain matters should cease to be reserved’. However Stormont Watchers will have to display a degree of patience as this won’t happen until the Housing Bill reaches its final stage.

To the media circus Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie answering oral questions will be little more than a distraction before the main action gets underway again with a Procedures Committee motion on P & J.

And just when everyone thought they could go home safe in the knowledge that ‘certain matters should cease to be reserved’ a small number of MLAs will have to wait after class for an adjournment debate on education capital spend in Holywood tabled by North Down DUP MLA Peter Weir.

To view the complete agenda click here.

The transfer of policing and justice powers to Northern Ireland is being vaunted by Westminster and Dublin as a coming of age for our politicians to reach out and take responsibility for something serious. That our politicians have evaded making any difficult decisions since being in government seems to have gone over the head of the Tory- turn coat in charge of the Imperial Court at the NIO. There is more than a sense of irony that it is the Ulster Unionist Party, the respected tribe of political compromisers of O’Neill, Faulkner and Trimble that is now holding out against the deal intended to seal devolved Government in Northern Ireland.

The smug Alliance Party with their snouts sniffing at the rim of the trough are now ready to ditch their self proclaimed ‘principled opposition’ for the crumbs from the DUP/Sinn Fein table. The SDLP are carping from the sidelines about their loss of entitlement.

But the question remains: what happens next?

The Ulster Unionists rightly smell the blood of a wounded DUP. Their hard-balling tactic is unnerving the DUP country and western set. They correctly point out that this deal was cobbled together by the DUP and Sinn Fein who both have the necessary cross-community votes to push through the Assembly the transfer of policing and justice powers. The DUP is panicky at the thought of not having the political cover of the Ulster Unionists.

If the DUP has a short memory, the Ulster Unionists do not. Pure and simple they want political revenge for the Trimble era when their party did all the heavy lifting to bring about power-sharing and the DUP stood outside like ‘hurlers in the ditch’. The Ulster Unionists owe no favours to Sinn Fein either as the latter strung out their obligations on decommissioning until it destroyed David Trimble’s credibility and led to a reversal of fortune for the Unionist Party.

So it’s a bit rich of either the DUP or Sinn Fein to ask Sir Reg to prostrate his party for their benefit under the guise of the so called greater good.

Of course, if the process is about political maturity then Sinn Fein and the DUP should force through the transfer of policing and justice powers by the weight of their own votes and the support of their political toadies. One suspects that the DUP don’t believe that they can do that and get way with it politically.

So does Peter Robinson walk in on Tuesday and say that while he supports the transfer of powers now; that without the support of the Ulster Unionists the necessary ‘community confidence’ on the Unionist side does not exist to allow this to happen? If he does, this the Assembly should be immediately dissolved and there should be a joint Westminster and Assembly election in May.

Both Sinn Fein and the DUP can go to the polls seeking a fresh mandate as all those contesting elections will know that the restoration of devolution will include an acceptance of the transfer of policing and justice.

At this juncture the Ulster Unionists hard-balling may back fire. Their fragile alliance with the Conservatives would almost certainly dissipate with competing interests from their respective grassroots and candidates for the Assembly and Westminster elections. The spectre of Sinn Fein holding the First Minister’s position may be enough to keep doubting DUP voters within the fold.

If coherent and uncomplicated in message, the SDLP may actually benefit from a joint poll as the normal frictions amongst Assembly candidates may encourage a high-turn turnout of activists which in turn will bolster the chances of retaining their Westminster seats. Sinn Fein is the only party likely to gain from a fresh mandate and in Martin Mc Guinness they have a popular and charismatic leader more capable than Adams at attracting new voters.

Fresh elections may cause a political train crash for the centre ground but it just might revive them too. This is Russian roulette politics and the winners will take all.

Tuesday at the Assembly…

A busy agenda gets underway this week with a clearing of decks motion to neuter some pesky standing orders that may have impacted on Tuesday’s big debate on the devolution of Policing & Justice.

Health Questions are always relatively lively and expect robust exchanges over recent increases of waiting times and budgetary pressures. Fresh from his party’s Ard Fheis Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy has the hard job of providing the encore at the dispatch box.

The SDLP shuffle the decks a little by replacing their newly elected Deputy Leader Patsy McGlone with PJ Bradley on the Agriculture Committee.

The uninitiated Stormont Watcher might do a double take when they hear Social Development Committee Chairman Simon Hamilton leading a debate calling for action arising out of the Savills Report. He will in fact be referring to a rather more mundane issue of how housing maintenance is financed.

In private members business PUP Leader Dawn Purvis brings her double jobbing bill to its first substantive stage with its second reading.

Next up the UUP will call on the Agriculture Minister to bring forward fair and practical criteria for implementation of tranche two of the Farm Modernisation Programme.

And finally the DUP claim last spot calling for Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie to examine the scope for replicating the boiler scrappage scheme operating in England & Wales to be replicated in Northern Ireland.  

To view the complete agenda click here.

THE WEEK THAT WAS….

Given the comparisons between Northern Ireland and South Africa (take your pick as to which tribe here best represents the Afrikaners or ANC) it was surprising no-one thought to shoe-horn in a Belfast trip for President Jacob Zuma as part of his UK state visit.

Leaving aside the commonality of trying to trying to create a shared future in a ‘post’ conflict state, the agile Jacob evidently has plenty of insight into the theory and practice of multi-party mandatory coalitions.  Not from a Governmental point of view mind you – no d’Hondt south of the equator to worry about – but from a personal perspective.

As an individual, Mr. Zuma has voluntarily entered into a mandatory coalition with three other partners – ‘wives’ would be the technical term.  If you thought the Hillsborough Castle discussions were complicated, spare a thought for poor Mr. Zuma who had to explain to two of his wives that the proprietors of the Buckingham Palace B&B in the Mall, London, only had a room for two (as for his 20 children, don’t even go there).  Here is a man who understands intimately how to negotiate under pressure.

Even Mr. Zuma, though, might have felt that the impending move to extend Stormont’s polygamistic arrangement from four parties to five was a step too far.  In all likelihood the blushing bride, Mr. Ford of Alliance, looks set to stride up the aisle next week once Policing & Justice is devolved.  Leaving aside the possibility that the wedding guests (I believe they’ve invited 108 close friends and foes) may decide to burn the reception down (it’s some very fancy-dan place in East Belfast) in a fit of pique, it appears that Mr. Ford may have jeopardized his position with an indiscretion last year.

A jilted-party seems to have got hold of some private correspondence Mr. Ford had with his one true love over the sea in the Liberal Party, expressing views about the Bloody Sunday inquiry which are widely held, but are too scandalous to mention in public.  No doubt the marriage will be consummated (there’s a not inconsiderable dowry of £800m attached to the union) but Mr. Ford’s veil has slipped.  The entire point of, and for choosing Alliance, was the party’s apparent inoffensive aloofness above the normal political bun fight.  It’s now transpired, however, that they’re only human after all.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Oral Answers

The DFM defended his support for the appointment of a new Justice Minister without recourse to d’Hondt, didn’t confirm that Mike Nesbitt would be replaced as a Victims’ Commissioner and danced round the detail of what the Parades Working Group has concluded.

Environment Questions were somewhat grumpy as MLAs got hot and bothered about a planning application regarding Knock Golf Course; there was also a sharp exchange between the Minister and Daithi McKay (SF, North Antrim) concerning a GAA club application in Bryansford.  The DCAL Minister tackled industrial heritage, cultural tourism and the promotion of cricket.

Written Answers

DCAL spent £3.6m on consultants’ fees re. the Maze Stadium, the Education Minister believes that her decision to withdraw funding from prep schools doesn’t require Executive approval and noted that 40% of Grammar School children achieved Grade A / A* in English compared to 5% of non-Grammar School pupils. DEL spent £30K on catering last year.

 DETI noted that North Down has the fewest unemployed people (1,839) and Foyle has the highest (5,023), and that the Tourist Board spent £150K consulting on a brand for NI tourism.  Environment confirmed that children under three can travel unrestrained in taxis, DFP revealed that there were over 100 16-year olds and under became mothers last yearm and DRD announced that 675K people used the Strangford Ferry last year.

COMMITTEES

Health considered a Private Member’s Bill on Missing Children, the Economic Reform Group briefed DETI on the benefits of lower corporate tax rates and DCAL went over the top at the Somme Heritage Centre.  Education went back to basics to focus on Primary School funding, DEL mucked in with the Young Farmers to find out about rural youth and DFP got to grips with NAMA. 

DARD went to the dogs with a session with Show Dogs Ireland and the upcoming Dog Control Bill.  DRD checked the mirror before manoeuvring onto the Road Safety Strategy.

AND FINALLY….

Congratulations to Dr. Farry (Alliance, North Down) was striking upon an ingenious method to speed up proceedings in the House.  Dr. Farry, who always brings insight and a degree of comprehension sadly lacking elsewhere in the House, usually has quite a lot to say about all things financial.

During this week’s Budget debate, however, he was called out of the Chamber and was forced to hand his illegible notes to his Strangford colleague, Kiaran McCarthy, who truncated them into a single paragraph.  Indeed, Mr. McCarthy who has a one-track mind, spent all most as much time on his favourite subject, the potholes of the Ards’ Peninsula.

If other MLAs could be persuaded to follow suit the House could finish its weekly business in time for Monday lunch.

Thérèse Rogan, NI Regional Director at fdf (Foundation Degree Forward), Michelle McCaughley, Head of Workforce and Economic Development at Belfast Metropolitan College, and Clare Stoney, the fdf national consultant who produced the Employer Engagement Toolkit, at Wednesday’s launch of fdf’s series of employer engagement seminars at the Millfield campus of Belfast Metropolitan College

Northern Ireland’s Further Education colleges, providing higher education, are participating in a masterclass on how to develop effective and sustainable partnerships with employers during a week-long series of seminars launched in Belfast today by fdf (Foundation Degree Forward).

Vice Principals, Deans, Heads of School and Business Development Managers will be amongst the regional college staff who will experience best practice methods for all aspects of employer engagement, from curriculum development and assessment through to longer-term relationship management.

Leading the seminars is fdf national consultant Clare Stoney, whose extensive research into the subject has lead to the development of an Employer Engagement Toolkit for education providers. The first of the series of events took place at Belfast Metropolitan College’s Millfield campus on Wednesday and will be rolled out to South West College, Northern Regional College, Southern Regional College and North West Regional College over the next week.

Thérèse Rogan, NI Regional Director at fdf (Foundation Degree Forward), said:

“This series of seminars has been organized by fdf to help our Further Education regional colleges meet and overcome the employer engagement challenge. Developing effective partnerships with employers should be a core aim and critical success factor for all providers of Further Education.

“Having engaged with over 1,000 employers, 100 colleges and 30 universities, Claire Stoney has a wealth of knowledge and experience on employer engagement and partnerships, so we are delighted to have her with us to lead the seminars. The Employer Engagement Toolkit provides an ideal framework which our colleges can draw from and adapt for their particular needs and circumstances.

“By the end of each seminar participants will have undertaken a critical self-assessment of current developments in relation to employer engagement. They will have gained a significant insight into how to develop a co-ordinated, strategic approach to employer engagement that is consistent and links business solutions and curriculum development with the further development of foundation degrees.

“Foundation Degree Forward works closely with the business community to ensure that the Foundation degrees developed in colleges are industry-led and meet the needs of local employers. The potential impact of these seminars should not be under estimated. They are funded by the Department of Employment and Learning (DEL) and support the department’s skills strategy to expand Foundation degrees in Northern Ireland.”

The workshops move on to South West College’s Omagh campus on Friday, to the Antrim campus of Northern Regional College next Monday and Southern Regional College’s Newry facility next Tuesday, before the final seminar at the Strand Road campus of North West Regional campus next Wednesday.

Speaking after the Belfast event, Michelle McCaughley, Head of Workforce and Economic Development at Belfast Metropolitan College, said:

“Belfast Metropolitan College recognizes the need to continually review our thinking and explore new possibilities regarding our approach to employer engagement and this workshop was the ideal opportunity for us to do that. We would like to pay tribute to fdf for organizing the event and to Claire for her excellent insights on the subject.

“How colleges manage employer engagement and the effectiveness of the partnerships we form with the business community are key factors in the quality of the service we provide for our students. Such partnerships are mutually beneficial as they provide employers with access to the pool of student talent, while colleges can keep up-to-date with key industry developments and ensure the curriculum we are providing meets the needs of employers.”

Tuesday at the Assembly…

The Minister for Finance & Personnel’s day gets off to busy start with as he shepherds three separate pieces of legislation through the house. In all likelihood the Budget Bill will complete its journey before the Rates (Exemption for Automatic Telling Machines in Rural Areas) Order (Northern Ireland) 2010 is affirmed and the Draft Rates (Deferment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 seeks approval.

It is Culture Arts & Leisure’s turn for oral questions with Nelson McCausland rarely disappointing Stormont Watchers who prefer their politics robust.

Now that OFMDFM have committed to publishing the Cohesion, Sharing and Integration Strategy the SDLP want to move the goalposts with a motion calling for its publication in March 2010.  

Business is concluded with an Adjournment Debate tabled by Alliance’s South Belfast MLA Anna Lo on anti-social behaviour of students in the Holylands.

And just in time for St Patricks Day….

To view the complete agenda click here.

Entering his fiftieth political year , Mr Mc Grady’s career could hardly be described as ‘mid-stream’ but with a whopping majority of some nine thousand votes at the 2005 Westminster election, this could be described as a ‘happy juncture’ to jump the SDLP ship with nothing to prove or owe to his political colleagues.  No doubt the octogenarian, Mr Paisley, who so far has escaped with his reputation in tact, will also be pondering Mr Powell’s warning.

The decision to postpone his retirement announcement until after the SDLP Leadership campaign is already being interpreted by some of his party colleagues as a deliberate move intended not to complicate things for his constituency colleague, Margaret Ritchie in her leadership bid. Others in the SDLP were caught completely off guard by his announcement and are confessing their electoral ‘jitters’ to the media.   They are right to be jittery. While Mr Mc Grady is bequeathing a substantial electoral legacy to his Party through his decisive win over Sinn Fein in 2005; roll on two years and this lead was substantially cut to a mere few hundred votes when the ‘Mc Grady’ name was not on the ticket for the Assembly elections.

Ms Ritchie is now going to tilt for her dream while balancing the jobs of Minister, MLA, Party Leader and Westminster Candidate for the next two and a half months. She has left herself open to criticism by holding down multiple jobs. More significantly Sinn Fein will now pursue her relentlessly as Minister in the Assembly.

It would have been a wiser and more confident move to stand aside from the Ministry –even temporarily- citing preparation for the election by providing her Party with her energy as Leader and her constituency with a 100% commitment as a candidate.

While Sinn Fein is surprised by Mr Mc Grady’s announcement, it would be foolish to believe that Catriona Ruane is a complete electoral albatross. Few doubt that Minister Ruane is a political liability or that her stewardship of Education is underwhelming but Sinn Fein knows their vote and how to get it out. Sinn Fein’s ability to have the most uninspiring candidates elected never fails to surprise commentators.

That said Margaret Ritchie goes into the election with Mr Mc Grady’s substantial majority as an inheritance; as well as being a well known Minister and Party Leader. In football parlance they would say ‘the game is hers to lose’.  It’s a lot of pressure on the SDLP and their new Leader but if successful gives the SDLP time to re-group in preparation for the forthcoming Assembly elections. Every effort of that party should go into holding their three Westminster seats- even at the expense of letting the overall percentage vote slip. People count success by bums on seats not pie charts and graphs.

As for Mr Mc Grady he deserves his retirement. He was not a political giant – all those plinths have been hi-jacked in Northern politics. He was a hard-working and diligent public servant who has dedicated his whole life to the service of others without regard to political ambition and personal sacrifice. Mr Mc Grady took principled stands against violence and for power-sharing. He championed environmental issues long before they were electorally ‘hip’. He was unwisely and unfairly by-passed for his entitlement to a Ministry in the first Assembly because he was not a political toady. That hurt personally and to fair-minded people was unforgiveable but politics is sometimes governed by mean-spiritedness and pettiness. Perhaps there should be a ‘Mc Grady’ plinth; one left empty to remind people of what’s missing in our debased political structures- decency, industriousness and principle –attributes well embodied in Mr Mc Grady’s long political tenure.

OFMDFM questions will attract their usual attention before Environment Minister Edwin Poots provides the encore at the dispatch box.

Sinn Féin get first crack at private members business with a party motion calling for social and economic protections to be mainstays within a robust enforceable Bill of Rights.

Its second time lucky for the DUP having declined last week to move the motion welcoming the end to 50/50 recruitment for the PSNI.

To view the complete agenda click here.

Down will host the Annual Congress of the Gaelic Athletic Association at the Slieve Donard Hotel, Newcastle over the weekend 16 – 18 April 2010 to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of Down defeating Kerry to win their historic first All Ireland Senior Gaelic Football Title on 25 September 1960.

Congress 2010 will be very special, since Down plan to organise an Iconic Event for the first time, to jointly welcome the leadership of the GAA under the astute guidance of Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Críostóir Ó Cuana along with Congress delegates and also to honour the historic Down 1960 and 1961 Gaelic Football team players and mentors. President of Ireland Mary McAleese is expected to be the guest of honour at the Iconic Event which will also attract Civic leaders from North and South, across the entire political and cultural spectrum.

Down GAA County Chairman Seamus Walsh stated “the GAA is an Association of milestones, and ranking high on the list of importance is September 25th 1960. This was the day when, amid scenes of unprecedented excitement, Down won their first All Ireland Senior Football Championship Title and thus became the first team from ‘North of the Border’ to win the coveted Sam Maguire Cup. Not only was this a significant victory from a historic point of view, but the style, movement and combination that Down brought to the top were a treat to watch and have remained as part of the style of many teams which followed”.

The Annual Congress is undoubtedly one of the most significant events in the GAA calendar. Delegates from all units of the Association in Ireland, overseas and throughout the world come together to debate, discuss and to formulate the future policy of Cumann Luthchleas Gael.

Speaking at the Press Conference, Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Críostóir Ó Cuana, stated: “It is timely that the Association’s Annual Congress should be hosted in County Down given the special year that 2010 represents for everyone that has an interest in Gaelic Games and the affairs of the Gaelic Athletic Association around this part of the island.

“The staging of Congress 2010 here serves as a reminder of the exploits of what was a pioneering Down football team, one that played with no little panache leaving in its wake a strong tradition and expectation that exists to this day in the County.

“I am sure the delegates who gather here from across Ireland and indeed the globe, will savour doing so and aside from engaging in the important business of annual Congress, they will join Down people in marking this most worthy landmark year.”

Acting as Master of Ceremonies at the Press Conference, the Chairman of the Down Congress 2010 Host Committee, Feargal McCormack stated “The foundation stones have been laid and the elevator for the Congress 2010 Iconic Event has now started. We trust that Congress 2010 will allow us an opportunity to celebrate with delegates from across the globe, the significance of Down’s initial All Ireland Senior Football Championship success and that our Congress delegates will enjoy their short stay among us, and that, when they depart they will remember there will always be a ‘Céad Míle Fáilte’, where ‘the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea’.

Feargal acknowledged that the hosting of such a major conference and iconic event would not be possible without the support of the local business community. He particularly acknowledged the platinum sponsorship of The Quays Shopping and Leisure Complex and also noted other major sponsors such as Ulster GAA Council, Belleek Pottery, North Down Marquees and PWS Signs (Ireland).

Cathal Austin, Manager at The Quays Shopping and Leisure Complex stated that The Quays were delighted to be Platinum sponsors for the GAA Congress Iconic Event and that the centre welcomed the opportunity to have GAA delegates and their friends from across Ireland and beyond experience The Quays at the launch, during Congress and in the future.

The hosting of Congress in Newcastle will provide a boost for local tourism with excess of over 600 visitors to the area. As a result, all hotels bedrooms in Newcastle and the surrounding area have been booked out in order to service Congress 2010.

A Primary Schools History Competition and a Post Primary Schools Art Competition with three categories namely Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 is also being organised in conjunction with Congress and Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael will officially open the exhibition of selected entries in these competitions in the Congress Marquee at 4pm on Friday 16 April 2010. Post Congress selected entries will be exhibited in The Quays Shopping and Leisure Complex, Newry.