Avolon to swap staff with Department of Foreign Affairs

Staff from international leasing company Avolon are set to join the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as part of a newly launched strategic staff exchange programme aimed at improving the skillset of both public and private sector companies.

According to the Department, the move will enable the Department to gain a greater understanding of the needs of global Irish companies, and will also give the staff of global Irish companies the opportunity to learn about how the Department can assist Irish companies and our role in contributing to the economic recovery.

Lessor Avolon, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange in late 2014, is the first company to embark on the programme, but Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie Flanagan said that further exchanges are planned for this year.

“As part of our campaign to broaden the economic recovery by increasing Ireland’s role in the global economy, this programme will help to enrich the skillsets, contacts and experience of key personnel in both the public and private sectors,” Mr Flanagan said.

Dómhnal Slattery, chief executive of Avolon CEO, praised the “exciting and promising initiative” saying that the exchange programme “ will enrich the skillsets of the teams of both organisations and feed into the global dimensions of the Irish public and private sectors, creating a new level of enthusiasm for public-private teamwork”.

“We are proud to be the first partners of the Department in this novel partnership and will work to encourage other global Irish companies to join in deepening and enlarging this co-operation in the interest of the people of Ireland,” Mr Slattery said.

The development was announced at "The Global Island: Ireland's Foreign Policy for a Changing World", a conference bringing together more than 90 Irish Ambassadors, Consuls General and senior diplomats with the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Government Ministers, as well as representatives of Irish companies, other Government departments, the State Agencies, third level institutions, and the creative sectors.