Entrepreneur of the Year shortlist announced

Ernst & Young has announced the Irish shortlist for the 2005 Entrepreneur of the Year Programme.

The shortlist of 24 finalists was decided after the panel of 12 judges reviewed entries from a range of businesses and individuals across the island of Ireland.

With Ireland continuing to receive more entries per head than any of the 40 other countries and regions which participate in the programme, Enda Kelly, the partner in charge of the programme, paid tribute to the Irish entrepreneurial spirit.

“In the battle for global commercial success, Ireland has to constantly evaluate and regroup its resources,” said Mr Kelly.

“Chief amongst those resources are our entrepreneurs – the people with the drive, commitment and sheer passion for success.

“The individual spots the opportunity for economic and/or social value and then- as an entrepreneur- goes about seeking out the resources from the wider society to make the whole thing happen.

“Our 24 finalists have all achieved this in their chosen field.”

Denis O’Brien, the winner of Ireland’s first programme in 1998, will chair the judging panel.

The first event which the 2005 finalists attend is the Executive Retreat, held in Boston in July. This event is a first of its kind to take place in the world programme.

The finalists for the 2005 event will be profiled in a short series to appear on RTÉ in August / September.

The winner will be announced at a televised awards ceremony in September, held at City West Hotel, Dublin.

The finalists (six of whom are from Northern Ireland) are:

International Category

Gerard Brandon, Alltracel Pharmaceuticals Plc

Kevin Neville, Data Display Co. Ltd

Tony McEnroe, Farran Technology Ltd.

Hubert Watson, Finlay BME

John Concannon, JFC Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

Gerard Keenan, Keenan Systems

Sarah Newman and Andrew Collins, Needahotel.com

Aidan Heavey, Tullow Oil Plc

Industry Category

Frankie Whelehan, Choice Hotels Ireland

Michael Carey, Jacob Fruitfield Food Group

Sean Coyle, Keystone Group

Paddy Callaghan, Nature’s Best Ltd.

William Doyle, Newbridge Silverware

Owen O’Callaghan, O’Callaghan Properties Ltd.

Oliver Hughes & Liam LaHart, The Porterhouse Brewing Company

William Wright, Wrightbus Ltd.

Emerging Category

Gregory J. Turley, ArgusCarHire.com

Andrew Walsh & Craig Benton, Celtic Composting Systems Ltd.

Donal Byrne, Corvil Networks

Brian Conlon, First Derivatives Plc

Brian Baird, Meridio

Ann-Marie Slavin, OPT2VOTE

Colm Lyon, Realex Payments

Jerry Kennelly, Stockbyte

The 12 members of the Judging Panel are:

Denis O’Brien, Digicel Group (Chair)

Brian Long, Atlantic Bridge Ventures

Pat Maher, Enterprise Ireland

Liam Nellis, InterTradeIreland

Liam Shanahan, Shanahan Engineering Ltd.

Gerard McCaughey, Century Homes

Terri Scott, Invest Northern Ireland

Pat McDonagh, Riverdeep

Padraigh O’Ceidigh, Aer Arann Express

Mary Martin, AGI Therapeutics Ltd.

Peter Fitzgerald, Randox Laboratories Ltd.

Kevin Thompstone, Shannon Development.