I want to write something that is honest about what business advocacy actually is — and what it takes — because I think the contribution of organisations like Dundalk Chamber of Commerce is often misunderstood.
Advocacy is not glamorous. It is press releases and submissions and meetings and briefings and follow-up calls to TDs’ offices. It is the same argument made repeatedly to different audiences over several years until it becomes policy. It is building coalitions — getting Drogheda Chamber, Newry Chamber, the county councils, the enterprise agencies, and the academic institutions aligned around a common position. It is showing up to things that do not make the news but where the decisions that eventually do make the news are actually made.
I have been the PRO of Dundalk Chamber since 2014. Before that I was President for two terms from 2011 to 2014. Between those roles and the work done by the people who preceded and worked alongside me in the Chamber over the years, a number of things that genuinely matter to businesses in this region have been achieved. They are worth naming, because they did not happen by accident.
The M1 Corridor Designation
The inclusion of the Drogheda–Dundalk–Newry M1 Corridor in Ireland’s National Development Plan 2040 as a primary growth centre is the most significant advocacy achievement of recent years for this region.
It took years. The concept of the “Linear City” — of treating Drogheda, Dundalk, and Newry as a single interconnected economic zone rather than three separate competing towns — was developed through the Chamber and refined through successive submissions to the All-Island Oireachtas committee, the National Planning Framework consultation, and eventually the NDP review.
The designation matters because it determines how state agencies allocate their attention and resources. The IDA and Enterprise Ireland are explicitly mandated to prioritise growth centres. Before the designation, the M1 Corridor competed for their attention on equal terms with dozens of other locations. The designation changed that equation.
The Living City Initiative
Dundalk’s addition to the Living City Initiative in Budget 2026 was the result of over a decade of pre-budget submissions from Dundalk Chamber. The initiative had been in place for other Irish cities since its introduction in 2015. Getting Dundalk included required persistent lobbying — the same argument, made in the same budget submission, year after year until it was finally heard.
The LCI provides real financial incentives for investment in the town centre — income tax relief on residential refurbishment, accelerated capital allowances on commercial refurbishment. It is a practical tool for addressing the vacancy and disinvestment that has affected parts of Dundalk’s urban core.
Cross-Border Advocacy
Dundalk is uniquely positioned to speak on cross-border economic issues because it lives them. When I have presented to the Oireachtas on cross-border workers, when the Chamber has made representations about the need for cross-border relief measures in the budget, when we have briefed embassies about the economic realities of the border region — these are not abstract policy positions. They are observations grounded in what our member businesses experience every day.
The cross-border breakfast events — held in conjunction with Newry Chamber and other partners — have been running for years, bringing together employers from both sides of the border to work through the practical implications of changing regulations for their workforce.
Brexit was a significant test of this cross-border network. The information flows, the advisory support, the advocacy for specific border-region measures — these happened because the relationships already existed. Dundalk Chamber was registered as an approved Brexit advisory body with InterTradeIreland before Brexit happened. That was not luck. It was preparation.
What the Next Decade Requires
The infrastructure gap — water and wastewater — is the most urgent item on the agenda for the next phase of Dundalk’s development. I have written about this separately and at some length in our article on Dundalk’s water infrastructure gap and what it means for business growth. Without the infrastructure, the growth that the NDP designates Dundalk to accommodate cannot happen physically.
The housing supply challenge — shared nationally but felt acutely in a growing town — requires sustained engagement with planning authorities and developers to unlock zoned land and deliver homes at a pace that matches population growth.
The transport connectivity story is incomplete. The M1 motorway is excellent. The rail service needs investment. Cross-border public transport between Newry and Dundalk is inadequate for a corridor claiming linear city status.
And the Chamber itself needs to continue evolving — drawing in new members from the technology, life sciences, and creative sectors that are growing in the town alongside the traditional construction, retail, and professional services base.
Why Business Civic Engagement Matters
I am an accountant by training and practice. I spend most of my working life looking at numbers, solving financial problems, and helping businesses navigate compliance and taxation. The Chamber work is a different kind of contribution — it is not billable, it does not appear on a balance sheet, and the results often take years to materialise.
But the businesses I advise operate within an infrastructure — physical, regulatory, educational, social — that determines the conditions for their success. A Dundalk business benefits from the M1 Corridor designation, the Living City Initiative, DkIT, the enterprise supports available through LEO, and a dozen other things that exist partly because someone invested the unglamorous effort to make them happen. We explore these topics and more across our Dundalk economy guides.
The Chamber represents the accumulation of that effort across generations of Dundalk business people. Jim Malone served the Chamber for decades. I have tried to continue that commitment. The measure of its value is not any individual campaign but the town it is trying to build. You can read about the Chamber’s current priorities in our article on the NDP 2026 review and what Dundalk Chamber is calling for.
Paddy Malone FCA AITI
Paddy is the principal of Malone & Co. Chartered Accountants in Dundalk. A Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland and a Chartered Tax Consultant with the Irish Tax Institute, he has been advising businesses across County Louth and the North-East for over 35 years.