Third-level ‘pivotal’ to future of south-east

THIRD-LEVEL education is pivotal to the development of Waterford and the south-east.

That’s according to one of the country’s best-known business figures who will be in Waterford later this month for an event bringing together current and future regional business leaders.

Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick will address Waterford Institute of Technology’s Postgraduate Business Ball at the Tower Hotel on October 19.

“Third-level education is very important and is clearly pivotal to the development and future prospects of Waterford and the southeast,” said Mr Fitzpatrick.

“It gives a real injection into a region — giving it life, heart and soul. The buzz that the young people from a higher education institution create gives a city a great sense that it’s a place to be,” he added.

Anglo Irish Bank’s clients are primarily property investors who invest in anticipation of yields.

“We are interested not only in their investments, but in them, and, while numbers are our measuring tools, ours is also very much a people business. It has been a difficult time for all in the banking sector of late but I would not be getting scared or depressed. We have just had an incredible week and there is a certain sense of reality biting,” said Mr Fitzpatrick.

Recalling his own education experience, Mr FitzPatrick said: “I grew up in the 1960s, went to college and worked in the mid-70s. The 1980s and early 1990s were a depressing time but we saw massive investment in education from the 1960s onwards and the return on that investment has been tremendous.”

He said that he would “not be negative” about the future of the economy.

Speaking about the business event, doctoral candidate at the WIT School of Business Paul Swift described Sean Fitzpatrick as “an icon of Irish business”.

“The period since he became Anglo Irish Bank chief executive in 1986 has been perhaps the most fascinating in Irish business history with tremendous change and growth,” said Mr Swift, who is also chairman of the institute’s postgraduate business society.

He recalled that forced emigration in search of employment was still very much a norm here in 1986 — irrespective of qualifications or skills.