Remarks at the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Gala Awards Ceremony
Dublin, 20th October 2011
Dia dhíbh go léir inniu. Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo libh ar an ócáid speisialta agus tabhactach seo.
Thank you to Frank O’ Keeffe for his invitation to this special evening.
Could there be any more special occasion than an award for entrepreneurship in the middle of a miserable and grinding recession. It is good to be here and to be celebrating the recognition of the men and women who are out there pushing out into the deep, reaching for that “farther shore” when so many others are beached on the shore, clamouring for hope, praying the economic tide will turn in their favour.
We always heard it said that necessity is the mother of invention and we are surely living through a time of considerable need - a tempestuous time when creative, adaptable and courageous minds are needed to apply themselves to navigating without charts or signposts. Ireland’s entrepreneurs are people who are down in the engine room, firing up the engines, generating energy and momentum so that the ship of our economy stops moving in circles and starts to get direction and speed.
They are the job creators, the opportunity makers, the opportunity takers and without them we stay marooned in the doldrums of economic retrenchment. With them we have a chance to put things right and to get things right. Our 2011 finalists arrived here by the hard road. We are grateful to have such people, grateful for their ingenuity, their drive, their ability to overcome adversity, their studied determination and their ability to plan their way successfully around problems, especially our collective problems.
Ireland needs people like you more than ever and I thank you for committing to the difficult and testing vocation of entrepreneurship. Can I also commend Ernst and Young for staying with this award programme through good times and through bad, making sure that Ireland’s entrepreneurial spirit is nourished and nurtured and, when it excels – is celebrated. All of us are willing tonight’s finalists on to continued success – for when they do well Ireland’s hopes grow and we steer closer to the renewed prosperity our people are longing for.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.