New Ibec President Pat McCann

Dear member,

We have a new Ibec President, Pat McCann, CEO of Dalata Hotel Group. Pat takes over from Paraic Curtis, Senior Vice President and General Manager of TE Medical - TE Connectivity, whose leadership and commitment have been an incredible asset to the organisation over the last year.

It is a real privilege to have someone with Pat’s impressive credentials stepping into the role. Pat is a leading figure in the hotel and hospitality sector. In early 2007, he took the brave step of founding his own hotel group – Dalata – building a business of scale, which would float on the Dublin and London Stock Exchanges in 2014. He has been at the very centre of Ireland’s recovery and prosperity.

In his keynote address at the Ibec President’s Dinner in the RDS on Friday night, Pat pinpointed specific measures needed in next month’s budget to support indigenous business, particularly SMEs. He also highlighted other key investment priorities, including infrastructure, higher education and innovation - points taken up later in the evening by the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure & Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD, in his subsequent address.

With over 800 people in attendance, it was a night to celebrate Irish business and its remarkable evolution, and we were honoured to have guests from politics and media attend, along with business. The event is an opportunity to look at how far we have come, but also to remember that the saga of Brexit is still only in phase one – the Withdrawal – a good chunk of our working lives will be spent on its ramifications for our businesses and society. It is right that we should focus on Brexit, in particular on preparing as best we can for all eventualities, but we need to focus as much on the structural implications for our economy and society, and on the things we can do something about.

If nothing else, Brexit shines a light on the systemic importance of business and the economy to our way of life here in Ireland, specifically the All Island economy and the Peace Process that underpins it. In life and in business, we will always be confronted with formidable challenges – this is the challenge for our generation of business leaders. For those of you who have not already registered, I include a link to our All Island Economy Conference, which we are hosting jointly with CBI Northern Ireland this Thursday in Dundalk.

Ibec is your organisation and we’re here to represent your interests. Please do get in touch if we can help.

Best wishes,

Danny McCoy
Ibec CEO