BLUE SKY THINKER SEEKS TO ROLL DUBLINS CLOUDS AWAY

GINA QUINN — CHIEF EXECUTIVE, DUBLIN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

WORDS: NESSA O'MAHONY

Prominent on the wall of the busy reception area of Dublin Chamber of Commerce’s offices on Clare Street, is a striking diptych. The two canvasses, by the artist John Kirwan, display Dublin Bay at a wide angle, the glorious span of mountains and sea overlooked by a turbulent sky of dark storm clouds. The paintings could provide a metaphor for the current climate being experienced by Dublin businesses as they struggle to sustain Celtic Tiger growth while navigating the increasingly creaky infrastructure of our swelling capital city.

According to Quin, her training as a psychologist (she qualified with a BA in psychology from UCD in 1980) gave her an understanding of human behaviour and her first professional experiences, with Lansdowne Market Research and the Irish Export Board, taught her to apply her psychological training to the fields of marketing and business. An MBA in 1989 further copper-fastened her qualifications for management and she honed those skills as Commercial Director of the Rehab Group before becoming Chief Executive of Gandon Enterprises, the devolved commercial wing of Rehab.

Quin admits to a strong sense of pride at having steered the Gandon Enterprise companies towards their ISO 9002 accreditations, something that was essential to allow them to compete fully on an internationally competitive basis. “That was an amazing process because it had enormous engagement from all the staff, both able bodied and disabled, and there was an enormous sense of pride for everybody within the company.” There was also particular pleasure in providing opportunities for people who had been previously disadvantaged. “It was very commercially driven as a company but it did have that other very special dimension which was about creating employment for people who had never had a tax-paying job. I can remember people saying to me, ‘I’m really delighted to be paying taxes’. I’d have a double take at that and they’d say ‘Well no, because now I’m contributing. I’ve been a taker all my life of handouts, now I’m giving something back.’ And for someone who has been registered disabled to have that sense of contribution is fantastic. It was very, very enjoyable — hard work, but very enjoyable.”

Quin joined the Chamber in 2000, at a time when Dublin, along with the rest of the country, was beginning to ride the Celtic Tiger wave. It must have seemed that everything was possible for the capital city.

“Yes. It has been a very exciting time but also a very challenging time because the Dublin we have here in 2007 is essentially suffering from enormous growing pains. Dublin has had a very strong economy for ten years and there is a great sense of optimism. There has been real wealth generated within the city and enormous credibility and genuine status for the Irish economy and the Dublin City economy internationally. But at the same time we are a city without a Metro, we are a city without proper road infrastructure, without a proper public transport infrastructure. We have enormous challenges in terms of our water infrastructure, our port infrastructure, our airport... it is a very challenging environment so while on the one hand everything has been very good, on the other, in terms of the big picture stuff, we are still trying to get it right.”

Read more about Gina Quinn in the October | November 2007 issue of WMB, subscribe now.