Simon Gregory - Director of Markets, Tourism Ireland
MY JOB is to look after the Tourism Ireland offices around the world. We have offices or representation in 23 countries.
I live in the Gasworks building in Ringsend, Dublin and work in Bishop’s Square. I’m not an early starter so I tend to get there at 9am or just after. I like to take my time over coffee in the morning.
I drive to work, which I know I shouldn’t. If I could figure out a way of driving in and walking home I would, but I can’t.
My days vary enormously. I’m abroad a couple of times a month. I also spend a lot of time driving around Ireland, meeting tourism providers.
Today, I was at a board meeting in Westport while last night we had dinner with around 20 local operators to listen to them and find out how we can support them better.
Once a week I’m out and about like that, including to Northern Ireland.
I’m from Bolton, near Manchester, but my mother is Irish and all our holidays were spent here when I was a child. Every job I’ve had in 20 years in tourism has been related to Ireland, so I think I was fated to live here when I moved over five years ago.
What I like about Dublin is that it’s a capital city, with all the advantages of that, but one which is also a very manageable place to live in.
Tourism is a great industry to work in, particularly my job because Ireland’s a great product to be selling. When you talk about Ireland overseas, people listen.
Also, tourism is generally a very positive industry so the people I meet tend to be resilient and proactive about how to bounce back from the downturn. If I’m in the office for the day lunch is a sandwich at the desk. At the moment we are doing a lot of work talking to airlines and ferry companies about improving access.
It’s also a time when we do our planning for next year, so I might be working on that too during the day.
There are a lot of meetings in this job, both internal and external. As a result, the big challenge is finding the time to do all the day-to-day administrative work around that. Like everybody else, I’m on the Blackberry all the time but I’ve a great team and that support helps.
If I’m in the office for the day I’ll keep the head down and work through until maybe 8pm before finishing up. I keep the gym bag in the boot in the hope that it will get some use but it doesn’t happen as often as I’d like. When I get home I’ll check e-mails, but I’m pretty good at switching off too.
In conversation with SANDRA O'CONNELL