As well as being the first woman to be appointed to the top management job at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, Ms Gina Quin has the distinction of being married to journalist Mr Kevin Murphy, who is probably the Republic's most famous house-husband.

"What would you like to know about him?" she laughs, not sounding the least bit put out by the fact that he is probably better known than she is, thanks to his recently published book It's a Dad's Life.

"Kevin is a huge support, obviously, if you're working this kind of job," she says. "It's fantastic to have him at home to deal with all those issues, those crises that arise, whether it be the washing machine breaking down, someone getting vaccinations at school or someone being ill."

Life at work is currently very full for Ms Quin, who, late last year, was appointed to the post of chief executive at Dublin's oldest business organisation.

Typically out of the house before anybody is awake, she says a lot of time has been spent getting to grips with her new job and with various meetings.

The workload shows no signs of easing off. She was speaking before going on a trade mission to the US to meet local chambers of commerce in Baltimore as well as the national, and hugely influential, US Chamber of Commerce. She will be joined by representatives from more than 20 companies, including FR Kelly, Guinness Ireland and VHI.

The Dublin Chamber of Commerce hopes to develop a formal "gateway arrangement" with the US chamber to help facilitate entry to the US market for Irish companies and attract more investment to Dublin from US companies.

In June, Ms Quin will travel to Brussels as the Irish representative on the newly established European Commission Enterprise Group, whose objective is to advise the European Commission on enterprise policy.

She says she was attracted to the job at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce by its high profile and the focus on improving the circumstances for doing business.

"As a Dubliner myself, going back a couple of generations, I have a very keen interest in that. I have also worked, in my career, across many different product and services sectors, so to work in an environment where I'm dealing with lots of different businesses and interests is something that I enjoy very much."

As well as being part of a family that is publicly doing its bit for the fight for domestic gender equality, she spent the previous 11 years working as commercial director and then chief executive for Gandon Enterprises, the successful commercial arm of the Rehab Group, which is devoted to the integration of people with disabilities into the workplace. As a non-profit, multi-sectoral corporation, at least half of its workforce is made up of people with disabilities.

In the mid-1990s, Ms Quin was part of the team that lobbied to set up the first sheltered employment programme for people with disabilities. This is a unique employment model where fully fledged commercial businesses provided 50 per cent of their employment to people with disabilities with the help of financial support from government.

At first glance, there appears to be a huge contrast between working for a non-profit, commercial organisation committed to integrated employment to representing companies of all sizes that are more likely to be committed to the bottom line.

"The jump probably isn't as big as it may seem. I mean Gandon was and is a very hardnosed commercial company. Any company that's going to create employment has to be focused on bottom-line performance and where the next investment pound is going to come from.

"In Gandon, I was very involved in lobbying for more support for people with disabilities, so I was already involved in that political lobbying area, working with government both in respect of the disability area and in recycling, because that was one of the major companies within the Gandon group."

Indeed, working with Gandon has provided Ms Quin with a breadth of experience that will prove useful in her new role, particularly her contacts with government. Other useful experiences include working as an executive with the Irish Trade Board, during which she studied part-time for an MBA.

Her career background should also see Ms Quin focus strongly on the social responsibilities of business. "DCC [The Dublin Chamber of Commerce] has always believed that what's good for business should also be good for the community and I would very, very strongly endorse that."

Regarding the difficult issues facing the chamber, Ms Quin refers to the extensive plans of city government, helped by public private partnerships, to improve Dublin's infrastructure and transport system, including an airport rail link, completion of the M50 and the development of light rail. However, she feels that "things are not happening fast enough". In addition, the process of communications and the need to minimise disruption to business also have to be addressed. However, she insists that the chamber is sympathetic to the Government's position and will be offering support in "moving through what is a first-time development phase for Dublin and for the country at large".

Many would now insist that the chamber's remit include the greater Dublin area as well as the capital city. It will submit a report to the Government shortly, advocating a more co-ordinated approach to development through a Greater Dublin authority.

Ms Quin is also keen to remain engaged with multinationals, to focus on their concerns. Others issues of concern to her organisation are the shortage of space for start-up companies, support for small and medium-sized enterprises, and e-commerce infrastructure. Ms Quin is clearly absorbed in her job but makes no secret of how much her husband's support in the family's now-famous domestic arena means to her.

"It has made a phenomenal difference to the quality of all our lives. I've been very involved in working at senior management level, which has always been very demanding. So running two lives like that with three children, a household, and grandparents and friends is very very demanding."

"I met my kids last night at 8 p.m. I was on my way home. They had been for a swim and were having ice cream in Dun Laoghaire. They wouldn't have that sort of time if one of us wasn't at home."