Business leaders must show 'leadership'

Northern Ireland’s business people must show leadership in the broader civic community and accept a greater role within society, according to Feargal McCormack, Chairman of the Ulster Society of Chartered Accountants.

Mr McCormack was speaking to over 400 guests at the Society’s Annual Dinner over the weekend. He said Chartered accountants and the broader Northern Ireland business community must be encouraged to accept "greater corporate social responsibilities and to become more pro-actively involved in public life".

He added: “We can’t change the past, indeed we have probably been shaped by it, but we can influence the future. We owe it to our generation, and to future generations, to ensure that political stability and mutual understanding is the norm on the island of Ireland. I therefore pose the question – if not now, when… and if not us, who?”

Mr McCormack welcomed this week’s effort to further develop the peace process and urged the politicians involved to negotiate a final settlement.

In relation to Northern Ireland’s economic future, Mr McCormack said: “Emphasis on encouraging entrepreneurship and research and development is correct. I believe that the next cycle in the development of the Northern Ireland and indeed the island economy, must be to place even more significant emphasis on research and development. We need to encourage and become the drivers of technology, rather than implementing other people’s ideas.

“Looking to the future, I am confident that the Ulster Society of Chartered Accountants will continue to be a progressive and outward-looking organisation dynamically engaged with its many constituencies and driven by a vision, not just for itself, but for the community it serves.”

Guest speakers at the Ulster Society’s Annual Dinner included Martin Naughton, Chairman of the Glen Dimplex Group and of InterTradeIreland; Denis OBrien, founder of Esat and Digicel and Chairman of the Games Organising Committee for the 2003 Special Olympics; and Senator David Norris.

(GMcG)