Navan businesswoman in the zone for ISME role

REFORM Linda Murray is co-owner of The Zone and Huckleberry’s Den and led the fight against exorbitant insurance premiums for small leisure activity providers

A DETERMINED Meath businesswoman, who refused to let insurance issues close her business has been selected to sit on the National Council of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises (ISME) association

Linda Murray, a Navan native and co-owner of The Zone and Huckleberry’s Den in Navan has just been nominated and selected to sit on the National Council of ISME, the only independent representative association for small and medium enterprises, which currently has in excess of 10,500 members nationwide.

Linda, along with her husband, Finbarr, employs 25 people in Navan through their leisure businesses. She was a founding member of PALI (Play Activity & Leisure Ireland) and became their CEO. She now sits on the executive of PALI will represent the group and its 120 members on the National Council of ISME.

“I’ve seen for many years that small business like ours have to work extremely hard to have a voice in Ireland and feel supported. You start off with a dream for your business but get bogged down in the day to day issues resulting in your ideas moving further away. One issue I realised however that was going to possibly close businesses like ours and community groups was the inability to either get insurance or get it at a fair price. At one stage we were 11 days from closing because of it. So, I got involved with the Alliance for Insurance Reform and became a director of the organisation."

She worked with the Alliance to bring about changes such as the establishment of the Central Bank’s National Claims Information Database (NCID), the enactment of the Judicial Council Act 2019 and subsequent implementation of the Personal Injury Guidelines, the establishment of the Garda Insurance Fraud Coordination Office and the enactment of the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019,

"Having been asked to sit on the National Council of ISME is a great honour and I am looking forward to this challenge. I’m from a hard-working background with both my Dad and Mam (Frank and Imelda Nelson) starting work at 12 and 13 years respectively and building up a great business in the furniture industry in Navan and they employed many throughout the years. I’ve never been afraid of hard work and I look forward to continuing to represent PALI members and all other small and medium size businesses while working with ISME,” she said.