The first session covered opportunities for the exploitation of sustainable energy sources in the form of wind and wave. The presentation from Open Hydro was particularly impressive in terms of "big solutions", while the presentation from Cool Power addressed home solutions. The fact that we will very soon able to sell home generated energy back to the ESB was not lost on the Chamber audience.
The second session focused on integrated eco-tourism opportunities in County Louth. The first, by Brendan McSherry, Louth Heritage Officer covered, our amazing bird life; Dundalk bay has the biggest concentration of overwintering birds in the country. Yet the county, unlike every other county on the east coast, has no infrastructure for accessing nature at all! It also outlined the possibility of designating a Geopark in the Cooleys and Gullion comples. The second talk, from James Orr of Castle Espie, made a convincing case for how integrated infrastructure for nature watching can be profitable in itself, not to mention the many spinoffs from such resources. The last presentation in that session described the Marble Arches Geopark in Fermanagh/Cavan, giving a taste of how a Geopark could work in Louth.
The final session dealt with Dundalk's potential as a national logistics hub, much more familiar fare for the assembled be-suited businessmen and women.
