All of those are important, as well as our beneficial
tax rate, which I believe will be maintained.
So, you see no threat to the corporation
tax rate, even over the long term?
“We made our position absolutely clear at the time
of the Lisbon Treaty referendum and it was accepted
by our partners.”
Our biggest advantage however, of all the things
that I’ve mentioned is our young people. They are
dynamic people who think laterally, who are not
constrained by any perceptions of class. They do not
believe in glass ceilings. They all feel up to taking
on challenges. They are extremely good. The image
I have with regard to employing young Irish people
is that they have a very good reputation abroad as
well. I think that we have the added advantage of
years of FDI in Ireland that has seen a number of
Irish executives going up the corporate ladder in
multinational investors and now being in positions
of influence.
Ireland has a high number of college
graduates entering the workforce. What
do employers look for from this category
of applicant?
I’m a great believer in the conclusion that whilst
a skills-based economy, with an adequate number
of people qualified in mathematics and science,
for example is an important component of the
mix required to support internal investment,
most employers abroad are often less influenced
than you would think with regard to more
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general employment in the type of degree you
have, as opposed to the quality of the degree you
have. In other words, if I was taking on a young
person in investment banking or in my previous
experience of an oil company - of course I would
need geologists, mathematicians and engineers,
but for the development of general management
and entrepreneurial capacity, I might be just as well
advised taking on a law graduate, an economics
graduate or even a philosophy graduate - if they got
a really good degree. So it’s the quality of the degree
that often determines one’s views as to application
and essential brain power.
Often people who have done unusual things are
attractive in the employment context. For example,
two of the personal assistants that I had in Goldman
Sachs when I first joined – one was a former
commando who studied law first and the other was
a former Irish army officer. They were employed by
probably one of the most difficult companies to get
employment from. They weren’t employed by me,
but they were available and they were very good.
To me, you don’t stereotype a role on the basis of a
degree of a certain kind. You need engineers in oil
companies and you need mathematical whizz kids in
banking and so on, but you need other qualities too.
What do you think those qualities are?
The capacity to think clearly, objectively, ethically
and to take decisions. To have the capacity for
lateral thinking. To avoid being intimidated by
structures. To be able to play your own role within
a structure and to have enough self confidence to do
so, rather than simply being a cog in a wheel.