THE REDUNDANT PROFESSIONAL

Ivan Sheridan worked for years as a qualified carpenter but saw the writing on the wall for the property sector in advance of the crash.

“I could see that the building game was slowing down. I didn’t realise it was going to be so drastic,” he says now, while reflecting on the businesses he set up since leaving the trade — a pub and shop in Kells, Co Kilkenny, and, most recently, Kilkenny City Tours.

The tour consists of a “train” ride through the heart of the Marble City and, with well over a dozen historic and picturesque sights to be seen, has gone down well with the visitor market.

The company starts tours in March and continues until the end of October. “I was away on holidays and we saw one in Italy and I thought it would work well in Kilkenny, a city with a medieval past and so on. I set it up two years ago and it’s going really well.”

Ivan advises anyone with an idea to talk to their local enterprise board.

“The Kilkenny County Enterprise Board were absolutely fantastic to me, and the credit union were great as well. It’s a great partnership for start-up businesses.”

* www.kilkennycitytours.ie