A CAUTIONARY TALE of eye-gouging inspired Hong Kong’s Irish Chamber of Commerce, as Munster and Ireland legend Alan Quinlan spoke poignantly of how the ban he got for gouging the eye of Leinster’s Leo Cullen cost him a place on the Lions tour in 2009.

His address at the Indian Recreation Club sold out and, given that this weekend is Rugby Sevens weekend in Hong Kong, Quinlan’s timing was impeccable.

The Hong Kong chamber is extremely vibrant and one of the most successful Irish business representative groups. When visiting Asian cities, it’s always a good rule of thumb to look up the local chamber of commerce and, in Hong Kong, the organisation is well established.

One scheme the Hong Kong chamber is piloting is a plan adopted at the Global Irish Forum to boost representation for industry groups out in Asia. The plan is due to be officially announced next month and it was welcomed by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton, whose brother John is chairman of IFSC Ireland.

“One of the things at the Global Irish Forum was a plan that chambers of commerce ‘adopt’ some of the associations in Ireland and we’ve been trying it here in Hong Kong with the Irish Funds Industry Association (IFIA),” said Rob Agnew (left), a former chairman of the chamber.

The representative group will be led by chamber chairman Conor O’Mara. Its first task will be to set up a database of contacts for the IFIA, and identify which are the best.

“Having a physical presence is very important,” said Agnew. “If it works out, then there’s no reason why, say, the Japan chamber couldn’t adopt the software industry group, or Singapore could do the life sciences,” he said.