Business
People in Business
Liam Bluett – General Manager SCCUL Enterprise
The Pope’s visit to Galway might not have happened at all, if the finance gurus in Northern Telecom’s Canadian head office had their way.
‘The company counted its stocks of parts in every location around the world on the last weekend of September each year,’ explains Liam Bluett who worked in the finance department in Galway at the time
‘As it was entirely a manual process, this required a lot of staff to work over the whole weekend but in 1979 the Pope’s visit to Ballybrit meant access to our plant in Mervue would be difficult if not impossible.
‘We explained this to the guys in Ontario who responded by asking us if the Pope’s visit could be postponed or cancelled.
‘They didn’t see it as a big deal, but we managed to come up with a compromise which achieved what they wanted and allowed Pope John Paul make his famous speech to the young people of Ireland.
Liam joined Northern Telecom in 1978 having spent several years in the British Merchant Navy before qualifying as an accountant in the mid 1970’s.
In 1978 industrial life in Galway was dominated by Digital, Crown, Thermo King and NT.
‘It was a very friendly and relatively young city,’ says Liam, ‘and on Thursday nights the workers poured into town from Mervue and Ballybrit and the place would be hopping.
They only made telephone sets in Mervue then but in 1979 a technology transfer group was set up which allowed the site develop engineering and ultimately product development capabilities of its own during the early 1980’s.
Within a decade the Galway site was well established as a European Centre of Excellence for manufacturing, distribution, customer service, product development and R&D.
This period also coincided with the computerisation of the finance function globally which allowed the department in Galway take on additional responsibilities for European markets.
‘We were closer to these markets and their time zones than the folks in Canada and could be more effective,’ says Liam.
‘This created more jobs in Galway and opportunities for staff to relocate to other Nortel sites.
‘I wasn’t interested in further travel but I was very interested in helping people to develop their careers and get overseas experience if they wanted.
This was very much the culture of Nortel at the time and the company funded an MBA for Liam which encouraged him to develop stronger links with the community.
From the early 1990’s the company was a major sponsor of Galway Arts Festival and many other community initiatives. Liam would have been the driving force behind the establishment of these strong cultural ties.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
The new President of Local Ireland, the association representing local news publishers around the country, is Head of Irish Times Regionals Dan Linehan.
Mr Linehan takes over the presidency from Declan McGuire of the Connacht Tribune. His appointment was confirmed at the recent Annual General Meeting of Local Ireland at Bloomfield House Hotel near Mullingar, Westmeath.
Mr Linehan, who has served as Vice President of the organisation for the last two years, said: “The coming years are a very important time for local publishers with many important issues to be addressed, including the implementation of the Future of Media Commission recommendations, defamation reform, the role and support for local publishers in public service reporting and helping publishers develop commercial digital offerings.”
Speaking at the AGM, Mr McGuire acknowledged the work done by the Executive in the past two years under the direction of Executive Director, Bob Hughes, on several projects related to the publishing industry but most especially the successful conclusion of the long-running campaign for the abolition of VAT on newspapers.
He also wished Mr Linehan the very best in his new role as President of the association for the next two years.
Mr Hughes thanked Mr McGuire for his leadership and support during his term of office and said he looked forward to working with Mr Linehan on the key policy priorities for the association, including Government supports, Government advertising, fair remuneration for content from the tech platforms and the reform of the legislation for defamation.
Local Ireland members also elected Seán Mahon, Managing Director of the Southern Star, as Vice President for the next two years.
The shortage of affordable housing is the single biggest impediment in attracting and retaining workers in the West, according to business group Ibec.
At a ‘Regional Insights Series’ meeting in the Galmont Hotel in Galway last week, employers were told that capacity constraints and labour supply are the key challenges facing business growth in the region.
Ibec Head of Regional Policy Helen Leahy said: “There must be greater focus by government on enhancing quality of life issues such as housing and infrastructure which are driving labour shortages in the region.
“Ibec’s vision for the West is to realise its potential to become a globally competitive location. An inadequate supply of affordable housing is now the single largest impediment to attracting and retaining talented workers, without whom business investment and expansions are not possible.
“Labour shortages are a real concern for businesses in the region. People decide where to live and work based on quality of life and access to high quality services and amenities. Industry tends to follow talent, and in this regard, the region needs to have all the building blocks in place as the attraction and retention of world-class talent becomes increasingly competitive on a global level,” said Ms Leahy.
Amongst Ibec’s priorities for the West are:
- Addressing housing and infrastructure challenges
- Transitioning towards a new growth model with Net Zero energy powered by Atlantic offshore wind resources
- Adapting businesses to the new economic realities
- Enhancing capacity and skillsets to achieve sustainable development objectives
- Investment in people and skills
- Creating competitive advantage through digitalisation
- Innovation as a key driver of productivity growth
One in five Galway businesses want to go fully cashless, as the move towards card payments and tapping continues unabated post-Covid.
In all, 22% of Galway businesses would like to be fully cashless, according to a survey carried out by BOI Payment Acceptance (BOIPA), a provider of payment technology solutions, which asked Irish businesses about the current payment landscape as well as business confidence and concerns.
Over one-third (36%) of Galway businesses were unaware there is no contactless limit on mobile wallets – just below the national average – while 54% believe the increase in card over cash transactions has helped them run their business.
Six out of ten Galway businesses expect to grow this year despite the cost-of-living crisis and running costs dominating as key concerns; 62% believe their business will grow over the next twelve months despite global economic uncertainty.
Unsurprisingly cost-of-living increases and running costs were the main concerns the majority of businesses had.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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