On qualifying, an acquaintance asked him to work on a project to establish a new airline flying out of Shannon. Raftery said he liked the idea but didn’t see Shannon working as the airline’s hub. "I liked the look for Cork as the main catchment area and so began to examine the economics of starting an airline that would use Cork Airport as its base", he explains. His partner was not interested so they parted as this point. Raftery says he spent the next three months researching the project and "talking to a lot of people". He also linked up with an Austrian acquaintance Jochen Schnadt, an air traffic controller by trade. He came on board on a part-time basis but has since joined the company full time as its chief operating officer.

All new business ventures need capital but airlines are particularly voracious in this respect as planes and landing fees cost big bucks. Raftery was able to negotiate a keen lease deal on four Brazilian-built Embraer regional jets. The first is now in service and Jetmagic expects to have all four flying in and out of Cork by late September. They are small by comparison with the jets being flown by the major airlines - two of them seating 37 and two 49 passengers – but Raftery says that Jetmagic will be up to 28 flights a day when its four planes are flying.

Raising the capital does not seem to have been a major headache as Raftery has managed to get 11 investors to cough up the initial €5.2m capital. Jetmagic did not actually require this amount to get into the air but "because of the unknown and the fickle industry we’re in, we added in a 30pc contingency", he explains. "Our business plans look right", Raftery adds. The names of the 11 shareholders, mostly "canny Cork investors" has not been divulged although Raftery admitted that reports about Michael Foley, the former chief executive of Aer Lingus, Heineken in the US and Murphy’s Brewery in Cork, being on board are true. Foley is a director of the fledgling airline.

The airline made its inaugural flight to Toulouse for the Munster Heineken Cup semi final, a charity flight that is expected to generate around €20,000 for two Cork charities, the Cuanlee Refuge for victims of domestic violence and Merrymount Hospice.

You might think the timing of the new airline’s lift off a bit odd given the geopolitical situation. Jetmagic was gearing up for its launch during the build up to and start of the Iraq invasion. "From a purely business point of view, such times are often the best to launch a new airline as you tend to get the very best aircraft deals", says Raftery. And while the timing of the two events were just coincidental, he further notes that the price of two key cost inputs – fuel and insurance – came down sharply once the war had started. Unsure how things were going to pan out, and how long the war might last, Jetmagic had hedged its fuel costs in anticipation. Being a short haul carrier, the company would, in any event, expect to benefit during a time of geopolitical upheaval since it is the long-haul travel arrangements that tend to be deferred.

The new airline has plans to employ 145 people when fully operational, which is an added boost for the Cork economy.

Irelandhotels.com recently went live with a fresh new look. A number if new features have been added to the site including the extension of the special offers section to include Spa Breaks and Golf Breaks. In the near future this offering will be extended to include Family Breaks, Walking Breaks and many others ensuring a variety of choice as well as great value.

The new look was developed to offer new services to consumers so that ultimately Irelandhotels.com becomes the obvious choice for booking a break in Ireland. One of the main advantages of the web is that changes can be implemented immediately and allow us to be proactive to all markets. The new look irelandhotels.com was not just a cosmetic approach to the design but also an improvement to the navigation and user friendliness of the site and extension of the products or services offered, in order to improve the overall visitor experience. The site will be continuously enhanced so that it offers the visitor fresh and innovative products in a user-friendly and attractive environment, making it a site that visitors always want to come back to.

Action Recruitment specialises solely in the recruitment hospitality professionals. The company was established 1974 and continues to lead others in standards of service and ethical business practices. It values lasting relationships based on shared opportunity and trust.

Contact: Karen O’Grady, St. Andrews House, 28-30 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01 6778544. Email: jobs@actionrecruitment.ie

Celtic Collections is a wholly owned Irish company and Ireland’s premier record label. The Celtic Collections catalogue includes some of the most respected and best known Irish artists, such as Phil Coulter, the Dubliners, the Fureys, the Wolfetones, Altan, De Dannan and Clannad, and represents all styles of celtic music from classical to rock and from traditional to pop.

Contact: Neill Duffy, 30-32 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2. Tel: 01 6790667 Email: neill@celticcollections.com

SoftBrands Hospitality is a leading hospitality software supplier in Ireland with over 200 hotel clients. The company presents a unique combination of expertise in hospitality and information technology. SoftBrands Hospitality products include PORTfolio Front Desk System, PORTfolio Central Reservations System, PORTfolio Electronic Point of Sale System and PORTfolio RIO Grand Leisure Management System.

Contact: Philip Rock, 2 Crofton Terrace, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. Tel: 01 202 0806 Email: philip.rock@softbrands.com

Dometic, formerly Electrolux Leisure Appliances, has a full range of Electrolux mini-bars and sages to compliment any hotel environment. The range comprises free standing and built in minibars, which can be fitted into the bedroom furniture or matched to the bedroom décor. Whether it is seen as a form of extra revenue generation or just an additional service the guests, hotels should not be without an in-room refreshment centre. To compliment this, the company has a full range of safes, including one which accommodates laptops.

For information contact: Tel: +44 582 5884113 Email: tpringle@dometic.co.uk

Thomas McLaughlin Hotel and Restaurant Equipment supplies a diverse range of products a diverse range of clients including hotel, bars, restaurants and cafes. The catering division provides a complete design installation and after sales package and the company can provide computer aided design layout. The furniture division also provides an extensive range of Irish and internationally designed furniture.

For further information contact the sales team on 048 37 511999.

Food irradiation is a preservation process used in over 40 countries to pasteurise more than 60 types of food. It is increasingly being used in the US to reduce contamination of ground beef products by pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7. This bacterial pathogen was identified as a potential threat to consumers in Ireland, following a recent survey of beef products by the National Food Centre, Teagasc, on behalf of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

Irradiation doses for food are generally low to medium and do not cause significant changes in the nutritional quality of food.

However, nutrients such as the B group vitamins and ascorbic acid that are sensitive to heat treatment are also sensitive to irradiation, while carbohydrates, fats and proteins are relatively unaffected. Like all preservation methods, irradiation is designed to supplement rather than replace good food handling and preparation practices. It is not suitable for all foods. Properly used and controlled, irradiation has proven benefits in extending the shelf life of many foods and protecting consumers from dangerous pathogens.

Food or food ingredients that have been irradiated and are marketed within the EU must carry the words "Irradiated" or "Treated with ionising radiation" in a prominent position either on the main label or next to the irradiated component in the list of ingredients. Irradiated food may optionally carry the international symbol for irradiation called the "Radura" symbol. To enforce labelling regulations certain laboratory analyses have been developed to identify food or food ingredients that have been irradiated.

A Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) is a savings account, which must meet certain standards laid down by the National Pensions Board - it must be simple to understand, adaptable to changing circumstances and offer good value for money. The introduction of PRSA’s places an added burden on employers who by law will need to ensure that every employee, both full-time and part-time has access to some form of pension by 15th of September this year. Even if you have an existing pensions scheme, it may need to be changed to ensure that it is in line with the new legislation.

Two types of PRSA will be sold in Ireland: a standard PRSA where the charges are capped, and a nonstandard PRSA where the charges are not subject to the same restrictions and are not capped.

AIB was the first financial institution to launch a PRSA in the Irish market. Its approach to the PRSA market is quite simple, AIB has decided to provide a standard PRSA to make pension planning easier for customers. A range of investment options are provided but the management fee is capped at 1% of the value of the fund and charges are capped at 5% of each contribution. To help employers better understand PRSA’s and their obligation to provide employees with access to this new type of pension plan, AIB has published a guide for employers entitled an "Employers Guide to PRSA’s". This guide is available in all AIB branches, and answers some of the main questions facing employers as the 15th September approaches.

Ark Life is an independent company within the AIB Group

AIB Bank is a tied agent of Ark Life for life and pension business

Allied Irish Banks plc is licensed by the Central Bank of Ireland

There are a number of hot issues currently on the minds of hotel and guesthouses proprietors around the county. Without a doubt the biggest issue facing our industry has to be the massive costs we are all paying for insurance cover. Even more worryingly some premises cannot afford to pay their insurance costs and are being forced to close. The increase of over 350% in the past three years is absolutely alarming.

Day in, day out we hear people in all sectors of the economy, including consumers, complaining about insurance costs and calling for something to be done to rectify the situation. The debate, however, seems to be falling on deaf ears. The government has not yet taken effective action to reduce premiums and this inaction is causing many small businesses to discontinue trading. This is reality. We know in our own sector alone that there are many individual properties facing very serious consequences.

The tourist sector is providing employment throughout the country in urban and rural areas. Due to our large capital investment we do not have the flexibility to pull out of Ireland and set up in cheaper markets as many multinationals do. It is inconceivable that the government is taking no effective action on the issue of insurance that is such a threat to the future of an important indigenous industry like ours, which employs 150,000 people. Insurance may seem like a small issue to

some, but it may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in an industry which has had to deal with many severe crises over the past three years.

Another issue set to have an impact on our industry is that of the smoking ban. On January 1st 2004 the Minister for Health, Mr Michael Martin plans to introduce an outright ban on smoking in the workplace. The principle of this ban would seem, when looked at in isolation, to be worthwhile. I for one would never encourage the use of tobacco, yet I do have some fundamental issues in relation to the proposed ban next January.

It appears to me that the Minister made public his intention without first considering how this new legislation would be enforced. I would ask the Minister to consider the following points before proceeding with his plans. At the time of writing Ireland will be the first EU country to introduce a total ban on smoking in hotels, restaurants, bars, etc. I believe that we should timetable the introduction of the legislation in tandem with the rest of Europe. Any unilateral move by Ireland before the rest of Europe would disadvantage us as a tourist destination.

It is of paramount importance that it will be an offence for the person who smokes in a prohibited area, as it is totally unreasonable to expect that enforcement should rest solely with the proprietor of the establishment. The industry needs full clarification on how an offender who is smoking in a prohibited area is to be handled. There is the potential for confrontation and we will need the full protection of the law to support the enforcement of the ban. The policing of this legislation is critical in light of the recent death of an employee in New York who was trying to enforce the new legislation there.

Indeed the potential problems of enforcement beg the question, why not just tackle the source of the problem and have an outright ban on the sale of tobacco in the state? Having said that, I believe that there is room for compromise here. There are areas in principle that would not have a problem with this ban such as hotel lobbies and restaurants. The practicalities of applying the ban in bedrooms, function rooms and bars, however, requires further consideration.

The tourism industry is already on its knees and any new legalisation that will further affect a business that contributes over €2.5 billion to the exchequer needs careful consideration.