director profile
company has had to keep an eye on its competitiveness says D’Arcy. Its large horticulture business is principally predicated on the sterling zone, and the company was faced with a problem some three years back when Sterling dropped from around €1.40 to around €1.10. “We had to take some tough action but we did, we didn’t lose any customers and we totally reorganised our work practices, our management practices and the interactiv- ity of the business units.” He is very optimistic for the future of the semi-state. “We have a strong balance sheet and we have a strong
relationship with the financial world. We have a suc- cessful track record in borrowing on capital markets and, importantly, that’s on our balance sheet, not on the State’s balance sheet, because we’re a plc.” D’Arcy is proud of the company’s good record in cor-
porate governance. Bord na Móna was named in the top 10 most reputable indigenous Irish organisations for 2010 by the Reputation Institute. “Trust is a very scarce commodity, and a vital ingredi-
ent in Bord na Móna in moving forward,” says D’Arcy. “We have significant engineering and management skills, including responsible management and biodiversity, Our employment has stayed up, in fact it has increased. We took in 50 graduates over the last year or so, of which two or three were actually ecologists. It shows how our contract with nature is not alone of environmental ben- efit, but of economic benefit. “We have planning permission for some of the largest
onshore wind developments in Europe and, in totality, we have a balanced portfolio of businesses and geographies, with major focus on driving our exports in particular. And aspirations? “Well, we would like to see ourselves
as one of the largest renewable energy players in the British Isles, and that will come about from not alone wind but also biomass.” The latter is one of the many areas where D’Arcy
believes Ireland has a distinct advantage. “Hopefully the new administration will stand back and
try to understand what are the things we’re really good at, what are the things we’re not so good at, and what are the things where we actually have differential strengths or benefits over our competitors, over other geographies.”
Water – the opportunity Climate, he says, is one of these. “It gets reflected indi- rectly in the great aspirations for our food industry because we have a fairly good climate for grass growing, but actually that also equates to areas like biomass – and of course to water.” Water is an area he believes Ireland must grasp quickly,
and he sees a future role for Bord na Móna here too. “People have to understand climate change is actually happening, and ask what are the opportunities for Ireland in climate change? One of them is water. “We have probably the best water regime of any coun-
try in Europe or in the Western world. We have more water dumping down on us than Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, China or India.” He says it is a key consideration today for the foreign
direct investment companies looking to Ireland. “Look at foreign direct investors that are coming in,
particularly the bio pharma and the ICT sector, five or 10 years ago their top five agendas would have included low corporation tax, access to an educated workforce, English speaking and being within the eurozone. Today, in their top five list? Access to copious quantities of sustainably produced water, and cost-effective sustainable energy.” There are challenges to be met when it comes to
water, but they are surmountable, says D’Arcy. “What’s our problem?We don’t have a systemto capture
it, to store it, to treat it and to disseminate it. That’s emi- nently fixable, and I think that slowly but surely there’s an understanding that this is key. It’s got to be something that’s transformational from an Irish point of view.” He points to the small print in the EU/IMF deal, which
involves an examination of our water system, and our sys- tem of water provision. “If I look at Bord na Móna and our history, our commercial capability, our access to cap- ital markets and our existing involvement in water, I say here is a ready-made commercial structure for a water company.” D’Arcy is ambitious not just for his organisation, but
also for Ireland. “A new administration will come in and now there’s a great opportunity for new ideas, a new vision for the future to be carved out.” If the new government has half the energy and ambi- tion of D’Arcy, we will have reason to believe.
Spring 2011 Irish Director 29
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