Clashing diaries are always a problem when choosing a date for big corporate events, but organising your set piece in London on the same day as Margaret Thatcher’s funeral must qualify as particularly bad luck.
Ian Hyland’s Ireland Inc could never have anticipated the double-booking when it set about hosting the inaugural Ireland Day London at the London Stock Exchange for next Wednesday.
The plan was (and is) to follow on from the company’s Ireland Day programmes at the New York Stock Exchange, which successfully launched in 2011.
Copying the format, the London Day will include a conference attended by top executives from prominent Irish and international companies, venture capitalists and other usual suspects, all hoping to fit some valuable networking into their day of listening and chat.
The only problem is that Mrs Thatcher’s enormously ceremonial funeral is scheduled to take place less than half a mile away at St Paul’s Cathedral, with some 2,000 guests said to be invited. The City is likely to be in lockdown due to security concerns. Hardly ideal circumstances for showcasing your country’s wares.
A London Stock Exchange spokesman tells us organisers had some “concern initially” but have since decided to include a “commemorative element” referencing the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Hopefully, attendees will make their way through the traffic to hear it, unlike business luminary Peter Sutherland, who was originally on the programme but is now unable to attend. Diaries, eh?
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