Uncharacteristic quiet on the blogging front while assessing the state of the Irish dental industry (and drawing parallels to banks and economic woes) My English dentist retired last year,  so what I hear you say – so I had more years with this guy than with any other personal or business relationship to date!  25 to be precise.

With a raging abscess I could put it off no longer and called a  local dentist I used before.  Who could not see me for a week, and bless his cotton socks when he did see me wanted another week before he could put me out of my misery – and the princely sum of €1600 – or €75 for an extraction as a cheap alternative. Excuse me? Ok so sell me this!  No, I never saw the dentst after the x ray and a rather embarrassed receptionist attempted to make the sale and advised me on a price basis that the extraction might be better – ‘in the year thats in it’.

Picture me, howling in pain and  waiting another week for anything to happen at all – two weeks in, no meaningful advice or leadership, hurtling towards a decision that affects my ability to eat for the rest of my lfe. NOW does this remind you of the economy? Thought so.

End of part 1 , exited dumbly to car, wept a little, as you do.  Picked up the phone (resisting the temptation to order said UK dentist out of retirement)and called a client. Denteast  do dental work in Dublin and in Budapest and like a lot of people I thought this was just cosmetic stuff.  Far from it.  Lovely dentist showed me the x ray, presented the options and had me mostly sorted within 48 hours – a Sunday appointment (thats the carrot folks!) – and now has me contemplating a dental break in Budapest to get things back in order.  Apparently I can have a whole new mouth for just over twice the proposed root fee from my local….. and the Hungarian technology was miles ahead … and I can get my tax back just like it was Ireland.

After an exhausting 4 hour shop with my niece Katharine in the Kildare Outlet Centre I collapsed exhausted (and I have shopped for Ireland in my time) into L’Officina – with just about enough energy to croak ‘Green Tea please’. My appetite for green tea being the stuff of legends, the slightly stiff €2.50 does not phase me – oh no I probably saved 10 times that by skipping Molton Brown and substituting some minor brand for office handwashing.

Frantically texting Katharine to advise  of reaching front of queue a nice young thing with suitable Italian accent presents me majestically with a green teabag and a pot of off the boil water.  The teabag, dear readers, is Lidl. Yes honestly Lidl, I saved the envelope for posterity and have emailed a link to this post to every restaurant reviewer I know (3.5). Frankly I did substitute Lidl hand wash for the Molton Brown for the duration of the recession but…. is this my punishment??

We had our moment of glory and great craic afterwards – in the SFA Small Business Awards this year it was generally agreed that all those shortlisted were winners – a great package of training, networking and publicity that still has the phones hopping. I basked in reflected glory sitting alongside the overall winners Connemara Seafoods.

Category winners were:  

MANUFACTURING AWARD: Ecocem

FOOD & DRINK AWARD: Connemara Seafoods, Highly Commended  Cully & Sully

SERVICES AWARD:  Surecom NS, Highly Commended Sea Cargo Services

OUTSTANDING SMALL BUSINESS:Home Instead Senior Care, Highly Commended: Flúirse

BEST IN HR DEVELOPMENT AWARD: Kevin Dempsey Distributors

INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR :  Megazyme International , Highly Commended Aerogen

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY :
Winner: Java Republic, Highly Commended:Westport Woods Hotel & SPA

EMERGING NEW BUSINESSES: ETIC Solutions , Print Delicious , Chic Commodities , Engineering Documentation  and Gael Energy .