I want to be a role model and show my children that out of adversity can come opportunity
Fiona Nagle, ex-wife of Breifne O’Brien, begins a new life as a consultant
FIONA Nagle, the former wife of jailed fraudster Breifne O’Brien, is branching out in a new direction – by setting up her own management consulting firm.
Ms Nagle, 48, says she is determined to turn an ‘extremely challenging period’ in her life to the good and act as a positive role model for her children.
She says the business, which she incorporated in September, is a chance for her to make a fresh start after ‘the very, very difficult period’ that she and her five children have been through.
Her former husband was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in October after he was found guilty of running a pyramid scheme that saw his friends and associates lose more than €8m.
In her first interview since then, she says she is determined to ‘turn adversity into positivity’.
Meeting in a south county Dublin café, she said that she wanted to put the ‘terrible ordeal’ of the past six years behind her.
‘I’m doing this for me but also for my children. I want to show leadership and be a role model for them and teach them that out of adversity can come opportunity.
‘Obviously the last few years have been a very, very difficult period for all of us. It’s been an extremely challenging time.
‘I want to set my children an example and show them that if this thing hadn’t happened to us, I wouldn’t have the opportunities I now have to start over again.
‘I’ve had to take a long hard look at myself and the situation in which I found myself.
‘I decided to take the skills I already had and retrain. I’m still at the early stages, but so far so good. At the moment, it’s just me but hopefully in time I will be able to employ staff.
‘I’m putting everything in this – I have to provide for my family.’
Ms Nagle completed a two-year master’s degree at the Smurfit Business College last year, having formerly worked in public relations and marketing.
She started her career with Countrywide Communications in London before moving to Fleishman Hilliard Saunders in Dublin. She then set up her own marketing and PR firm.
She also undertook fundraising, most notably the annual organisation of the Sinatra Ball for the Hope Foundation, which helps street children in Calcutta.
Most recently she worked for Blackrock Cabs, a firm owned by herself and her former husband.
‘I took it over, turned it around into a profitable business and then the shares were taken over by people who Breifne owed money to,’ she said.
In 2012, she was awarded €45,000 when the Employment Appeals Tribunal ruled that Blackrock Cabs had wrongly dismissed her as chief executive in 2010.
In a statement to the court at the time, she pleaded her case. The job, she said, was her only source of income.
‘I worked very long hours and often worked seven days a week,’ she said. ‘I was unable to assume these full-time responsibilities at that time as I had five children, ranging from an infant of six months to a son of 18 years who was studying for his Leaving Certificate, all of whom, as well as myself, were devastated by the revelations of my estranged husband’s business activities and the subsequent trauma to our lives.’
Today, dressed in a smart black jacket, white blouse and leather trousers, she looks determined to make a success of her new role. Her management consultancy firm, Peralto, will target small and medium enterprises in the technological and consumer sectors at the early stages of their development.
She sees her company’s role as a mentoring one: ‘I want to work with companies and CEOs and use my personal experience to help them take their opportunities, grow and reach their full potential.’
A non-executive director in her new firm is a family friend, Dr Jim Mountjoy, founder of
‘I’ve had to take a long hard look at myself’ ‘It’s been a tough few years for my family’
Eurostix, the successful supplier of network management software solutions for the telecommunications industry. He is currently involved as an investor and in a non-executive capacity with a number of technology firms.
Ms Nagle says she has had a lot of goodwill towards her.
‘It’s been a very tough few years for me and my family but we’ve come through and hopefully all of that is behind us now.’