Some 170 students graduated from the Faculty of Law over a range of degree programmes. A further 236 graduated from the Faculty of Commerce with the degree of BComm plus BComm (European) with French, German, Irish, Italian and Spanish while 111 graduated from the Faculty of Food Science & Technology in Food Business, Food Science & Technology, Nutritional Science and Rural Development.  It was a first for UCC when four Chinese students graduated under the university's joint degree programme with Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU). The students, who graduated with a Bachelor in Food Science, are the first graduates of UCC's "2+2" programme. UCC is the first Irish university to engage in "split degree" programmes with Chinese partner universities which means that students spend the first two years at the Chinese partner before transferring to UCC for the final two.

The Conferring Addresses were delivered by Mr Frank Daly, Partner, Ronan Daly Jermyn (attached) Professor Gerry Boyle, Director, Teagasc (attached) and Mr Alan Crosbie, Chairman, Thomas Crosbie Holdings Limited (attached).

In his address to the Law graduates, Frank Daly said "a law degree is one of the most useful and prestigious degrees one can have."  He  referred to Ireland's new found confidence in the business world which led to the setting up of a Dublin Financial Services Centre where more and more lawyers are being employed. "Our legislators have been forced by harmonization to modernize our business laws.  Sadly, in the field of European legislation, our political masters take the political credit for such European legislation as the Employment Equality Act.  If they feel the Act is any way unpopular they blame Europe and wash their hands of it.  No wonder the electorate feels removed from Europe - if the legislation is popular it is Irish, if it is unpopular it is European.  This is notwithstanding all such legalization has detailed Irish input and in every instance Irish approval", he said.

In his address to Food Science and Commerce graduates, Professor Gerry Boyle referred to the relationship between UCC and Teagasc in food research in particular the joint initiative where the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC) and Teagasc work collaboratively on major food related issues such as obesity, cancer and other food/health issues. "This collaboration has been further strengthened with the recent announcement of the National Functional Foods Research Initiative which builds on this UCC/Teagasc axis and brings in other research organisations such as UCD, and dairy companies like Glanbia, Kerry and Carbery", he said.

Mr Alan Crosbie, in his speech, referred to the opportunities for business graduates in family businesses.  “Family business is one of the most important continuing factors in the economy here and elsewhere”, he said. Established in 1841, the Cork Examiner has survived famine, civil war, two world wars, paper shortages, petrol shortages, five generations of Crosbies and has never missed an edition.  Today,  Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH) owns The Irish Examiner, Evening Echo, Western People, Roscommon Herald, Irish Post (London), Sunday Business Post to name but a few.
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Conferring Address by Mr Frank Daly, Partner, Ronan Daly Jermyn, Monday, September 8th 2008

President, Members of the University, distinguished guests and fellow lawyers.

I was very honoured to be asked by the President to attend here today and to make this conferring address to such a distinguished audience.

I firstly want to congratulate my fellow lawyers who are today receiving an appropriate acknowledgement for all your effort, commitment and hard work.  University degrees do not come easily so each of you can be justly proud of your achievement.  So too your parents can be justly proud of your success.  Your parents were and are at the forefront of the battle to get you qualified and to launch you on a successful career.  So congratulations to each and every one of them for their ambition and dedication to your cause.  
Today you are at a crossroads on your career journey with a choice of 4 roads to take - 3 legal and one non-legal.

Law is a wonderful career for those of you who intend to become full time lawyers.  Most of you will have already made up your minds as to which branch of the legal profession you intend entering, that is the solicitors' profession, barristers' profession or to become an academic lawyer.  To those of you who do not intend going into mainstream law, there are  also exciting opportunities out there.  A law degree is one of the most useful and prestigious degrees that you can have.  You also hold it from University College Cork, a University which has always had the highest reputation in legal circles.

I had the privilege of studying law in UCC in the early 60's.  There were 13 students in the entire faculty.  The teaching staff consisted of 2 wonderful professors, Ted Ryan and Bryan Murphy, assisted by 2 lecturers.  Two of us graduated together, myself and Harvey Kenny, currently a leading Circuit Court judge.

One look around me today and you can see how the numbers have increased and multiplied.

When I qualified as a solicitor in 1966 there were approximately 900 solicitors in the country.  There were about 100 in Cork City and County and, if my memory serves me correctly, there were 12 barristers.

Now the Country boasts 11,200 solicitors and 2000 barristers.  We have approximately 750 solicitors in the City and County in Cork, supported by 100 barristers.  Where does all this work come from, do we need all these lawyers and is it sustainable in the long term?  These are very real questions for you as you start your legal journey.

It is absolutely true that as society gets more complex there is a need for more lawyers.  In my early days of practice the only activities for lawyers were property transactions, dealing with the estates of deceased persons, traffic accidents and compensation for work related injuries.  Major changes came about primarily because we joined the European Union, the excellent work carried out by the Industrial Development Authority in promoting Ireland as an industrial base, an imaginative tax policy and an enlightened education policy which led to an abundance of young graduates who did not want to emigrate.  The arrival of American, German, French and Japanese companies into the Country led to a quick expansion in business law and a requirement for business related expertise.

Europe required us to harmonise our legal system with that of the other member states in many areas, in particular Employment Law, Company Law, Competition Law and certain aspects of our taxation system.  This led to a new comprehensive and ever advancing body of employment law which now concentrates the minds of 10% of the lawyers working in the Country.  Company law had to be substantially modernized and new European concepts such as worker directors and the control of transactions with directors were introduced.  This provided great activity for a large number of lawyers.  New regulators appear annually; all having a European provenance - we have the Commission for Energy Regulation, the Commission for Communications Regulation and many others include the Competition Authority.  

Our new found confidence in the business world led to the setting up of a Dublin Financial Services Centre where more and more lawyers are being employed.

Our legislators have been forced by harmonization to modernize our business laws.  Sadly, in the field of European legislation, our political masters take the political credit for such European legislation as the Employment Equality Act.  If they feel the Act is any way unpopular they blame Europe and wash their hands of it.  No wonder the electorate feels removed from Europe - if the legislation is popular it is Irish, if it is unpopular it is European.  This is notwithstanding all such legalization has detailed Irish input and in every instance Irish approval.  It is also clear that where there is a lack of a European imperative our legislature is reluctant to engage in change.

Taxation is another area where lawyers are coming into their own in the last 15 years.  Previously lawyers avoided taxation as being too complicated and left it with the accountancy profession.  In the United States taxation is seen solely as a lawyers' field.  Here the pendulum has swung back, at the moment Taxation Law is shared by the accountancy and legal professions.  Most of the bigger law firms now have very active and creative taxation departments.  I forecast within 20 years that taxation will be predominately in the domain of lawyers.

Our exposure to Europe and America through the media, personal relationships and the large number of young people who have spent time abroad led to a change in social attitudes.  Divorce was introduced and with it the complexity of the distribution of marital assets and the care & custody of children.  This area again provides an enormous quantity of work for lawyers.  

Then we have specialist subjects which didn't exist heretofore; Media Law, Sports Law, Energy Law; and new areas such as carbon emissions and buying & selling of carbon quotas.  

We need and will continue to need more and more lawyers.  I would be happy that those of you who seek a career in law, that your future is secure.

One word of advice I would give to you today and that is specialisation is the way forward.  It is true to say that there is still a great living to be had from being a general practitioner but anyone who can find themselves a niche and can develop that niche even in conjunction with general practice will have a very profitable future.

For those of you who do not intend to take up a career in law, your degree gives you a wonderful diving board from which to spring into the commercial world.  Your degree will always stand to you.  You will always look at problems with a legal perspective in mind.  Your training will have taught you how to analyse problems to find the correct solution.  

Many of Ireland's most important businessmen and politicians started off with a career in law and they have now reached important positions in the world of commerce and politics - President McAleese and Mary Robinson were both barristers, Taoiseach Brian Cowen is a solicitor, Jack Lynch was a barrister, Tony O'Reilly is a solicitor, Peter Sutherland was a barrister who became Commissioner for Competition.  Dermot Gleeson, an eminent Senior Counsel is Chairman of Allied Irish Banks and Chairman of the Board of Governors of this great University.

There are wonderful opportunities out there for all of you in law and business on your road to success.

Today is the start of your journey and your adventure into the real world of business and politics.  Good luck to you in your future careers and again congratulations to you all.

ENDS
____________________

Conferring Address by Teagasc Director, Professor Gerry Boyle, Monday, September 8th 2008

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.
Let me first congratulate all of you who are graduating here today.
It is an achievement that you can be proud of and one that your parents can be proud of and I see lots of beaming mothers and fathers here today. Well done on your hard work over the years and congratulations to your family for the support they have provided and given to you during your studies to-date.

And I do mean studies to-date, because for many of you this is the first step, as you embark on a journey of life long learning. Your education doesn't just stop today, and I hope that doesn't come as a financial shock to your parents and families who have supported you during your time here in UCC.  

Improving our education is something that we must continuously strive to achieve during our lives. New challenges require us to re-educate ourselves, to think differently and to better equip us for our working lives, wherever that may take us. With your qualifications, all kinds of exciting doors will open to you, in areas such as food business, science, nutritional science, rural development. The opportunities are endless. They are out there for you to seek out and pursue.

As a graduate of UCD, my degree and subsequent PhD which I achieved while working for Teagasc's predecessor,  an Foras Taluntais, provided the building blocks for a career which created opportunities to work all over the world in countries like Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan   and others areas of eastern Europe and central Asia.

I was fortunate that my professional qualifications opened doors and allowed me to pursue a career in Maynooth University, to engage with people from the University of Missouri, in Colombia, and to interact with those working in a wide range of academic and business pursuits.  I have no doubt that the foundation stones of your future career which have been set down during your time here in UCC will allow you to work and visit parts of the world and meet and engage with the best in the world. Your success will be limited only by your own ambition.   

Wherever your future careers take you, be it into industry, business, the scientific sector, or further research, you will undoubtly be presented with new opportunities to further your education, and my simple piece of advice to you is to grasp these opportunities as they arise and make the most of them, because education is a light load to carry through life.

UCC / Teagasc Linkages
I am particularly pleased to be here in UCC which is such an historic centre of learning. Teagasc and UCC have a very good relationship, working together to achieve common objectives. Indeed I was here just a few short weeks ago, addressing an international biotechnology conference which was jointly organised by Teagasc and UCC. It proved highly successful, bringing some of the leading scientists, academics and others working in the biotechnology industry together in Cork to share information on the latest developments in this emerging sector.

While this was a once off event, Teagasc and UCC have other, more long term commitments to each other, particularly in food research which I think may be of interest to many of you graduating with food science degrees here today. A joint initiative, the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC), where Teagasc and UCC work collaboratively on major food related issues such as obesity, cancer and other food/health issues, has been working very well for years.

This is down to the good working relationships developed between Fergus Shanahan here in UCC and Liam Donnelly, Paul Ross and other colleagues at the Teagasc Food Research Centre in Moorepark in Fermoy. This collaboration has been further strengthened with the recent announcement of the National Functional Foods Research Initiative which builds on this UCC/Teagasc axis and brings in other research organisations such as UCD, and dairy companies like Glanbia, Kerry and Carbery. These joint initiatives are essential, particularly in a small country like Ireland where resources are not infinite, and the pooling of knowledge is essential to the development of the economy and the country.

Knowledge Economy
Many of you will have heard the phrase -"the knowledge economy" and as newly qualified graduates you are central to the development of the knowledge based economy in Ireland in the future. Some of you may have heard me speak on this before, so you will know my views on the need to continuously acquire new knowledge, whether that is through new innovative research or through international and national collaboration with the best and brightest working in relevant fields.  The application of knowledge is cumulative. Once it has been created, it can be used over and over again to the benefit of many, at no additional cost.   So research to create new knowledge is a sound investment in my view and even in these tighter financial times, I strongly believe that research should continue to be supported so that the competitive advantage that knowledge gives us can be maintained. Similarly, investment in education, to produce bright, clever, graduates like all of you who are graduating here today, is a sound investment because it provides the stars, the entrepreneurs and the drivers of the knowledge based bioeconomy of the future.

To conclude, I would like to thank Professor Patrick Fitzpatrick for the invitation to address you all. It is an important day for you individually and collectively. As graduates of UCC your paths will continue to cross in the future and the people you sit with here today will provide an important network for you as you embark on your own individual career paths. Your relationship with UCC will evolve, mature and change, but this day and the qualification you are receiving will stay with you for the rest of your life.
Once again well done on your achievement, and I wish you well as you move on to begin the next chapter in your careers.

Thank you for your attention.

ENDS
______________

Conferring Address by Mr Alan Crosbie, Chairman, Thomas Crosbie Holdings Limited, Monday, September 8th 2008

Congratulations,

To you and UCC.  They do these graduation ceremonies wonderfully and so they should - what you have achieved is special.

Now that you have a BComm. From UCC everybody will be asking you to look into the future and give advice.  You will get questions like;
a)    When will the ISEQ start to recover
b      Or how low will oil price fall
c)    When will sterling bounce back.
When it comes to predicting the future, one of the funniest things you can do is look at the exhibits that have appeared at World Fairs back in the fifties and sixties, predicting the way we'd live and work in this century. We were all going to have personal flying machines.

Or remember that old film 2001, a Space Odyssey. You know the one where HAL, the
computer, goes nuts, mid-flight and the astronaut has to disassemble its brain? It gradually deteriorates until it ends up singing Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do...

Except the computer is this [gesture] big. Whereas all of us carry just as much computing power in our Blackberrys and mobile phones.  Sometimes, when we look at the future, we get it sort of half right. Like the study that was done in Dublin at the end of the nineteenth century. It predicted traffic problems. Really bad traffic problems. Awful conditions that would be an affront to the citizens.  Not bad, as predictions go.

Except the traffic congestion the planners envisaged was going to be caused by horses. Horses everywhere. Everybody either riding horses or travelling in carriages drawn by horses. The awful conditions for the citizens? They were measurable. Extrapolating from the projected number of horses, the physical output of each horse, and applying that to the most-used streets, the measurement was that horse ---- droppings ----were going to be two feet deep within thirty years. Horses were going to be wading, rather than galloping.  It didn't happen. Instead, the horse numbers diminished and the cars bred like rabbits and the pollution wasn't as visible but much more damaging.  That's what happens all the time. Futurologists predict something and a quite different version of the same thing happens. Just a couple of decades ago, the big prediction was that we were all going to be working from home. Meeting people on video-conference cameras. E-mailing and texting and phoning.

That didn't happen for two reasons. First of all, we're social animals. We may like to retreat to our homes after a bad day, bang the
door behind us and - except during elections - know that the chances of anybody arriving during the evening are slim. But we like to go to work. We like the fun, the gossip, the arguments and the flirting at work.

The other reason that vision of the future hasn't so far happened is that most of us (this is my theory and I'm sticking to it) hate being seen when we make phone calls to other people. Phones that show the caller, have been available for more than thirty years and they've never caught on. We don't want to be seen by the other person when we do the "Oh, get to the point" roll of the eyes or signal to someone else in the room "This is my mother and it'll take me seven minutes to apologise to her for whatever I've done or not done..."

The most intelligent way to plan for the future is to look for the strands of continuity. The things that'll always be there. The patterns that always recur.  In which context, the family business is one of the most important continuing factors in the economy here and elsewhere. It's a pattern that never stops happening.

My own family started in business with my great great grandfather. A reporter. His entrepreneurial spirit first showed up in an ability to row a boat. More important than you might think, the ability to row a boat.  The reason it was important was that, during the American Civil War, there was no telegraph between Europe and the America. Cork was the first port of call for Trans Atlantic shipping.  Thomas Crosbie used to go out in his little rowboat and shout questions up at the passengers leaning over the rail of the incoming ship. Not only did he get answers - like that the Civil War was over - but he got newspapers thrown down to him.  As a result, he broke a phenomenal number of stories. He was the first man in Europe to get the Gettysburg address.  The owner of the paper was so impressed with him, he left the newspaper to him. That was the beginning. In the years since 1841, the paper survived famine, civil war, two world wars, paper shortages, petrol shortages, five generations of Crosbies and has never missed an edition. Plus, today, Thomas Crosbie Holdings owns: The Irish Examiner & Evening Echo, Western People, Roscommon Herald, Nationalist Group (in Carlow), Echo Group (in Wexford), Irish Post (London), Newry & Down Democrats, Sunday Business Post, Red FM, WLR - to name but a few.

So family businesses are central to the world economy.  And family businesses are central to fairytales. You all know the statistics of the world economy: 70% of businesses are family businesses. You may have missed the significance of the fairytales, though. But if you think about it, an awful lot of the stories we tell our kids are about family businesses, issues of succession - even the incursion of
outsiders. The classic one is Cinderella. It's perfectly clear, when we meet Cinderella for the first time, scrubbing her little heart out in the scullery, that her patrimony's been stolen from her by her stepmother. In the interests of the two ugly sisters.

The stepmother wants to give the sisters everything Cinderella should have.  Including the Prince. So even if the sisters wear size nine shoes, she's gonna get one of them to ram a hoof into a glass slipper in order to ride off into the sunset with yer man.  All that stuff about rats and pumpkins and midnight --- that's all frills. Essentially, Cinderella's about a family business and who's going to get the major shareholding.

Much the same applies to Snow White. Except in that case, there's two family businesses. There's the seven dwarfs hey hoing off to work in the family goldmine every day. No clear management structure, but a lot of diversity - the mix of Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy and so on is almost the perfect board of directors. Although I'd have reservations about Grumpy. Very dodgy, the way he says "Wimmen!" Not gender-neutral, our Grumpy.  Now, because the Seven Dwarf Mining company doesn't have a good management structure, they're gonna get eaten alive by the Health and Safety Authority. Muck and detritus everywhere. Until Snow White comes along.

And she comes along because her own family business issues are far from settled. A stepmother seems to be in charge there too, and there have to be question marks over any CEO who spends so much time talking to a mirror and developing paranoid notions as a result of what she thinks the mirror is saying to her. I think there's a really good reason behind the fact that so many fairytales are based around family businesses.

The reason is there's so much drama, conflict, bloody-mindedness, excitement, tragedy and financial disaster lying in wait at the point of handover. Much more drama, conflict, bloody-mindedness and so on than there is during the early days. OK, people who found businesses think they're pretty cool and visionary.

They spot a market.
They invest money they don't have.
They invest blood, tears and sweat.
They work all the hours that God sends.
They build a brand - build a business.

And then - so they think - comes the easy bit. The good bit. The real payoff.

The point where the founder gets to say that there's one for everybody in the audience - the audience being his or her family. The Generational Speed Bump is what I call it.The point at which the founder - or the second generation - has to make the decision: who's going to run this business from now on? The reason it's a speed bump is that sentimental notions of family get washed into what should be a business decision, pure and simple. Founders of businesses suddenly lose their grip on reality. They look at
their families and say  "This is all for you. I did this all for you." Then they say "Equity demands that all four of my children get equal
shares." (Or all nine of my children - whatever the number is.) They divide up the shares, give jobs to all of the kids, and wait for the
punchline. They expect the punchline to be "And they all lived happily ever after". In fact, the punchline is much more likely to be "And at this point, all hell broke loose."

It amazes me that founders don't do the simple arithmetic. Look at it this way. You're the founder of the business. You have say five kids. You've reared your family and you've given them a standard of living they've come to love and expect.  When they grow up you bring them all into the business with spouses and kids etc. all of whom require the same high standard of living. The strain on the business becomes immense. That's why we are always advised to hire qualified mananger to run or help run our business, qualified manangers like you.

So there are lots of opportunities for business graduates in family businesses. If you find yourself working in a family business and I hope you do, the 1st thing you must do is establish trust. Trust is the single most important factor in a good business relationship.  And it takes time.  Your can't do it quickly, no matter how charming or charismatic you are.  You can't do it quickly, even if you try to convince the family members that you really, really like them.

Three centuries ago Lord Chesterfield said: Distrust all those who love you extremely upon a very slight acquaintance and without any visible reason.

ENDS

Picture: Zara West, Áine McCarthy and Noreen O'Sullivan, who were conferred with a BCL (Law & French), at the conferrings at University College Cork today (September 8th 2008).

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