doctor
of economic science
Daniel
Tierney
The Tierney Report of 1995 paved the
way for much of the technology transfer and education/industry linkages that
now inform the fabric of our Higher Education sector. In this important report, also known as
STIAC, the Science Technology and Innovation Advisory Council Report, key
problems were addressed: low-level commitment to research and development,
insufficient innovation and entrepreneurship; a lack of integration of
multinational enterprises into the economy and problems arising from the small
size, scale and low technology bases of Irish firms. For Dan Tierney these
issues are of passionate concern. He argues in the introduction to the Report
that ‘we all have a vision of an Ireland where each of us enjoys a rising
standard of living’ - he goes on to mention healthcare, education, value-added
jobs - and claims that if business is ‘driven by invention, imagination and
creativity...we can compete on the world stage. It is not a pipe-dream…It
depends on our ability to stimulate growth through knowledge generation,
innovation and the application of technology’.
This interest in research and
development was shown earlier in Mr Tierney’s career when he became one of
the founder-directors of the non-profit
Industry Research and Development Group in 1992, an organisation dedicated to
improving the product and process research, development and innovation of Irish
businesses. In his busy career, Dan Tierney has constantly returned to the
issue of how to bridge research and business practice. He recognises the
cogency of Bronowski’s axiom that, ‘the world can
only be grasped by action, not by contemplation…the hand is the cutting edge of
the mind’.
Mr Tierney’s contribution to the
public service in Ireland
over many years has echoed this theme. In his two term chairmanship (1997-2007)
of the National Standards Authority of Ireland, for example, he worked towards
the nation-wide implementation of the ISO 9000 Quality System. In 1998, the
then Minister for Science and Technology, Mr Noel Treacy,
TD, commended the outstanding chairmanship of Mr. Dan Tierney in leading this
organisation in its work of implementing technical and management standards in
Irish industry. This work, commented Mr Tierney, is about ‘raising the
standards of quality in the public sector …as family members, as members of the
national workforce, as customers, as business people, as citizens. …The
achievement and continuous improvement of high quality standards by public
service bodies impacts directly and indirectly upon all our lives’.
Of the other public service posts
which Mr Tierney held in the 1990s, one deserves particular mention: this is
the chairmanship of the Special Task Force set up in 1996-97 by the Government
following the closure of the Packard Electric Plant in Tallaght
with the loss of 700 jobs. The Task Force was
extremely successful and the majority of the workforce found new employment;
the factory was re-opened under new management. Mr Tierney also represented Ireland on the board of the Industry Research
and Development Advisory Council in Brussels
between 1992 and 1995 and was a member of the European Science and Technology
Assembly between 1993 and 1996.
In the early days of the United States,
Thomas Jefferson commented that ‘No duty the Executive had to perform was so
trying as to put the right man in the right place’. The Irish Government was
astute and fortunate in recognising the creative and energetic skills and
talents that Mr Tierney was able to bring to the important work of steering
Irish Industry toward the technologies that now inform the 21st century
manufacturing and services sectors. The University of Limerick Foundation is
also grateful for his long-standing service to this university; from the outset
of the history of this university, our aim has been to join the Higher
Education world of study and research with business and manufacture, to help
make Ireland a creative, vibrant and prosperous nation. Mr Tierney’s important work for the country
has been conducted alongside a busy and successful commercial career. He is
currently Chairman of Bimeda Holdings plc (formerly
Cross Vetpharm Holdings plc). He was also a founding
director of the Arrow Oil Company (later JET), a Director with the Irish
National Petroleum Corporation, and of Enterprise Ireland
and a board member of Eirgrid plc.
Dan Tierney continues to innovate
and experiment in his business ventures while demonstrating a commitment to the
needs of the country and to the current discussions of energy efficiency in the
global context: two recent projects are in the renewable energy area: Lightwave Technologies Ltd supplies energy saving software
technology and specialises in the intelligent control of energy; Green Biofuels Ireland Ltd produces biodiesel.
This company has the laudable ambition of reducing dependency on imported fuel,
enabling Ireland to respect
the Kyoto
protocol and to help in reducing the EU diesel deficit. These interests in the
efficient use of energy were shown earlier when the NSAI under Dan Tierney’s
chairmanship sponsored the programme ‘About the House’ with Duncan Stewart to
publicise improved standards of house building, especially those concerned with
energy.
In 1991, the city of Limerick celebrated the
300th anniversary of the Treaty of Limerick. The Cross Chemical Group and ICC
Bank under the leadership of Dan Tierney and Frank Casey commissioned Seoirse Bodley to compose The
Limerick Symphony, also known as the 5th Symphony of Seoirse
Bodley. This symphony recorded by the RTE Concert
Orchestra remains an enduring cultural legacy of the Treaty Anniversary; it
also provides a reminder of Dan’s deep affection for his native city; his early
years at Crescent College left him with a deep love of rugby and he is
a keen supporter of Munster
(currently the European champions). That leaves little time for his several other
interests: the opera, golf, squash and sailing; this last pastime suggests a
key to the powerful and inspired energies that have guided Dan Tierney’s
wide-ranging career path and dedicated service to the needs of this country. As
the poet Louis McNeice puts it -
‘By a high star
our course is set,
Our end is
Life. Put out to sea.’