‘Ireland must shake off the wave of doom and gloom’

IRELAND needs to shake off the wave of doom and gloom that has gripped the nation if it is to work its way out of this downturn.

This is according to one the country’s most successful exports, Financial Dynamics founder and good friend of Hillary Clinton, Declan Kelly.

Mr Kelly was in Ireland recently for meetings with the Taoiseach, minster for finance and also to lend a helping hand to his brother, senator and Labour party European election candidate, Alan Kelly.

“I have great sympathy for the position that Ireland finds itself in. Great sympathy for any politician, it doesn’t matter what party you belong to. This is a tremendously difficult situation and there is no one simple answer,” he said.

In his typical no nonsense business-like fashion, Mr Kelly said Ireland needs to stop talking about why this downturn happened and stop feeling sorry for itself and instead start focusing on the positives, rather than the negatives.

“And if we do that, we have a much better chance of solving this in the short-term rather than the long-term. So this wave of doom and gloom that seems to have griped the country is unnecessary and it’s holding us back from resolving the situation and every politician regardless of who they are should be given the opportunity to work this out because it’s not simple,” he said, in what seems like a plug for his brother’s efforts, which saw him host two conferences in Cork and Limerick last week in an effort to generate ideas to stimulate the economy.

Mr Kelly flew in from America to speak at both conferences.

Now living in New York and working as chief integration officer for FTI Consulting, Mr Kelly started his career in journalism before making the move into the world of public relations. He sold his PR firm, Financial Dynamics for e268 million a few years ago and now works with FTI, which he called the “largest restructuring business in the world”.

Mr Kelly said he has no intentions of moving back to Ireland and contrary to rumours has no plans to get involved in the media business in Ireland through the purchase of newspapers.

He is a regular visitor to the White House and was there for the St Patrick’s Day celebrations recently.

“If you could have been in that room you would have seen the genuine goodwill that exists in Americatowards Ireland. Not just because we have historic ties but because people genuinely respect the relationship that exists. The common bond between us is unique in this world.,” he said.

Mr Kelly, who is a supporter of Hillary Clinton, thinks the Irish government got it right by guaranteeing deposits but he said the next few months are crucial.

“When the finance minister steps up and gives his budget it’s as much about communicating the plan than it is about the plan,” said the PR guru.