Emerging category winner McCarthy hails staff

CONOR McCARTHY of Dublin Aerospace was last night named the Ernst Young Entrepreneur Of The Year in the Emerging category.

Mr McCarthy, who founded Dublin Aerospace following the closure of SR Technics in 2009, thanked the staff at Dublin Aerospace and the investors who backed the company in the spring of 2009.

“It was a really difficult time generally, and we had to convince investors that this was a business that could work, despite the difficulties that had beset the aircraft manufacturing business in the previous years.”

He also praised his staff, 30 of whom were present at the awards last night, for “delighting their customers day after day”.

Mr McCarthy said his advice to would-be entrepreneurs is to appreciate the importance of hard work. “You just can’t underestimate the importance of hard work. This country is going to have to be rebuilt through a combination of imagination and hard work.”

This week the company signed a deal with a Bulgarian company who will send their aircraft to Dublin for overhaul this coming Spring. “Deals such as this show that Ireland can compete with places like Eastern Europe, in terms of cost and reliability.”

Mr McCarthy has spent a lifetime working in the aviation industry, since joining Aer Lingus at the age of 16 to train as an aircraft engineer. He was previously chief executive of Aer Lingus Commuter and chief operating officer of Ryanair, and is a shareholder and director with both Air Asia and vivaAerobus of Mexico.

In 2001 he was involved in the establishment of AirAsia, a business which began with two 737’s and grew into one of Asia’s largest and most successful low-fares airline, with 100 aircraft and 28 million passengers a year. He is also the founder of PlaneConsult, an airline consultancy, which was established 2000.

Mr McCarthy says Dublin Aerospace draws on the strong tradition of aircraft maintenance in Ireland.

The other finalists in the emerging category for the Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year were: Ciarán Mulligan and Rowan Devereux of Blue Insurance, Denis McCarthy of Annadale Technologies, Gráinne Kelly of Bubblegum UK Ltd, Ian Barrett and Ronan Ginnell of Joule, John O’Dea of Crospon, Normal Crowley of Crowley Carbon and Tom Morrisroe of the Now Factory.