LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR JIM O’CALLAGHAN

MARGARET RODDY PROFILES A MAN WHO HAS GIVEN MUCH TO DUNDALK BUSINESS DOWN THE YEARS

DURING HIS VISIT TO IRELAND, POPE JOHN PAUL HAD MADE A PLEA FOR AN END TO VIOLENCE AND THIS RESONATED WITH JIM

JIM O’Callaghan is the well deserved recipient of the Lifetime Award for Contribution to Louth from Dundalk Chamber of Commerece at the 2019 Louth Business Awards.

The Doylesfort Road native has had an extraordinary career as an entrepreneur which has taken him around the world, his company TSM Control Systems has weathered the challenges of four decades to be a leader in its field, and he has made a tremendous contribution to the economic and social fabric of Dundalk through his work with Dundalk Chamber of Commerce and as a founder of the North Louth Hospice.

The determination which he displayed on the playing field, whether playing for Dowdallshill GFC, where he was a member of the club’s only team to go reach the minor championships, lining out for Dundalk Rugby Club, or taking part in college debates, has stood to him in the highly competitive world of business.

Right from the start, Jim demonstrated a single mindedness and vision which was to become a hallmark of his life.

At a time when gap years were unheard of, he went to work in Rotterdam, Holland for a year after finishing his Leaving Cert at the CBS Secondary School in Dundalk, earning enough money to put himself through college.

He studied electronics engineering at DIT Kevin Street and later completed a Masters in Technology at the University of Limerick which set him on a career path which took him to many different countries before he eventually set up his TSM Control Systems here in Dundalk in 1977.

During his early career, he gained a vast insight into the intricacies of various manufacturing processes which needed the highest level of precision.

While he enjoyed success at work, gaining huge experience, getting promotions and moving between companies, it was a relentless lifestyle which saw him catching red eye flights and spending more time abroad than at home.

‘People didn’t understand what I was doing going to these weird and wonderful places as it was a time when people went as far as Spain on their holidays. I’d get a 7am flight out of Dublin airport on Monday morning, one of just two at that hour of the morning, and come back in on Friday evening, and the same people would be getting the flight each week.’

Having worked in print, tobacco and plastic industries in the United States, Holland, Scandinavia and Africa, he realised that he would never be based in Ireland unless he came home and set up his own business.

The opportunity came after he was awarded ‘Engineer of the Year’ by Industrial Nucleonics in 1976 for excellence and professionalism in his work.

‘ The prize was a trip around the States and Rome,’ he says. He returned from that trip with a concept for a new product to measure and control the width of plastic which he spent eighteen months developing in his garage.

As the business took off, he recalls carrying one of the first units in a suitcase on a flight bound for Scandinavia in September 1979.

‘I installed it in the company’s processing line and came back to Dublin on a flight on a Friday evening,’ he remembers.

As he arrived back, the airport was unusually quiet, with ‘not a soul to be seen’, not even ground staff or customs officers.

Walking out of the terminal, he saw all the staff lined up and next thing, the Pope Mobile came towards him.

‘I ran alongside the Pope Mobile and shook hands with the Pope!’ he says.

He got home to Dundalk to find the house empty as his wife Maura had gone to see the Pope in Drogheda but wouldn’t get home until later due to the huge numbers who attended the rally at Killiner.

During his visit to Ireland, Pope John Paul had made a plea for an end to violence in northern Ireland, and this was something which resonated with Jim.

He recalls the dreadful impact which the Troubles had on Dundalk, with the town dubbed ‘ El Paso’ in the British media.

‘I was President of the Chamber of Commerce in the middle of the Troubles when the reputation of Dundalk was the pits.’

Along with other forward thinking business, civic and trade union leaders, Jim set up the Dundalk Enterprise Development Company with the aim of improving the town’s image.

‘All the major players in town were on board, and we put huge efforts into getting good publicity for the town.’

Among the initiatives launched was the Dundalk 1200 Heritage

Year which lead to numerous conferences and AGMs being held in town alongside a host of cultural events.

They were also responsible for Enterprise Centre at Distillery Lane and underwrote the building of an advance factory with the aim of attracting investment to Dundalk.

‘We produced a guide to Dundalk which was printed in several languages including Japanese,’ says Jim. ‘ The first new company to come to Dundalk was Quantum, and this was the first of many.’

Dundalk Enterprise Development Company also played a valuable role in advising the Department of Foreign Affairs as to how money from the International Fund for Ireland could best be used to help drive peace and economic prosperity in the border area.

Jim worked tirelessly to promote the image of Dundalk at home and abroad, and as President of the Chamber of Commerce forged relationships with Chambers in Newry, Belfast and Dublin.

‘I met with the whole spectrum of politicians,’ he recalls of the years of establishing cross-community links which played into the Peace Process.

‘ This was at a time when people were still being shot, not long after the black flags hung on every pole and the whole town would close down for the hunger strike marches.’

His work saw him going to many functions at the American Embassy in Dublin and he also attended peace conferences in the White House at Pittsburg at the invitation of President Clinton, where he got the chance to promote Dundalk to government officials.

Jim was also a key figure in the setting up of the North Louth Hospice, which he says is particularly close to his heart.

He is extremely proud of the work which the Hospice has done for cancer patients and their families over the past 27 years.

As chairman of the Board, he is still very much involved with the organisation, as is his wife Maura. He stresses that none of the 150 volunteers get paid and that they are dependent on the generosity of the local community for funding as they receive no money from central government.

‘I’m very proud of our new premises,’ he says. ‘It gives us room to store 15 electric beds which are used to give people the dignity of being able to come home at the end of their lives and spend time with their families.’

Although his sons Richard and Shane are now leading the company, Jim remains very active in the business which he has built up to having regional offices in Atlanta, USA, Twiwa and China, with over 10,000 customers across a wide variety of industry sectors and spanning a total of 60 countries.

The secret to his business success, and indeed to his own life, is never to stand still but to constantly strive to improve to meet whatever challenge lies ahead.