The damage that failings in corporate governance risks causing to Ireland’s reputation as a centre of entrepreneurial drive and innovation, Paul Farrell, chief executive of Hibernia College, has said. The former Virgin Media CEO and marketing boss at 02 and The Irish Times, said too many businesses founded on the back of invention, a scientific or tech study, or rolled out as a response to some consumer demand or market need, hit the buffers.
Farrell said it was not because of any intrinsic weakness in the proposition on which they were founded, but through corporate governance failure. The increasing volume of business failures, marked by the number of companies facing insolvency, and those forced to enter liquidation, examinership, or administration – has served to underline the urgent need for a more focused approach to corporate governance education and training.
Skills
While emphasising that Ireland has always been a powerhouse for new ideas, fuelled by the creativity and imagination of its people, and reflected in the international standing of the likes of CRH and other companies, he noted how important it was that the country would educate a new breed of business leaders versed in the skills required to ensure that businesses would grow and prosper, domestically and on the international stage.
“Adding to this urgency,” Farrell added, “are the ever-tightening standards, rules, and regulations being imposed by the EU, governments, and other groupings under whose strictures an international trading nation must operate”. Hibernia College now offers a two-year, part-time, blended learning study that will culminate in a MSc in corporate governance approved in Ireland by the Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland (CGIUKI).
The programme is pending QQI validation and is due to start next month.
