DERMOT DESMOND
DERMOT Desmond has always had a quasi-public role in Ireland and has advised successive Irish governments on economic development issues. “The best contribution I’ve been involved in has definitely got to be the IFSC,” he said in Ireland Inc. “In addition to direct employment we must consider what the IFSC has done for confidence, for identity, for the recognition of the country, for the auxiliary businesses it creates…”
If Desmond was to advise the government now, what would he say? “I don’t believe that you can go along and say: what’s the next big thing? The next big idea is happening at the present time without us knowing it.
“I think the next big idea is us creating our own Silicon Valley. Bringing that reservoir of knowledge from around the world, from the Googles, the Twitters, the Facebooks, all these tech companies that are in Ireland, and what they are going to throw out.
“That is of such value that I think we should recognise it and harness it. That is the next big idea, that’s what is happening, and that is going to grow exponentially over the next few years and we should feed into that.
“We should recognise that those businesses are contiguous to all our lives in every single business, and we should embrace the knowledge and the advantage that they will give us. We should recognise that they are the fulcrum that will herald us into future success.”
Desmond has little time for how Irish society treats success and failure in business. “We live in a world in Ireland where we are envious. We’ve come from a colonial history where everybody was hierarchical and everybody is watching each other’s neighbour and how they’ve got on, so nobody ever likes to see anybody getting on,”
“People, in fact, like to see people down,” he said. “I don’t think people in Ireland like to see people coming back up, or coming up in the first place. Other people’s success should not affect our own happiness. When we fully understand that, then a lot of people will have freedom.”
Desmond is positive about “the Irish entrepreneurial character and the creative team spirit. I work with some great Irish people. I’d prefer to have Irish people left and right of me going into battle in business than anybody else. I think they are supremely accomplished”.