HAVING BAGGED €13 million from the sale of Cooley Distillery to the Beam spirits group in the US, businessman John Teeling is suddenly in demand with media.
Brendan O’Connor invited him onto his Saturday night television chat show on RTÉ1 last weekend but the Dubliner politely declined.
“I’ve done my bit [since the deal] in terms of public persona,” he told me from his sun-kissed garden in Clontarf this week.
“I’ve one more thing to do in DCU [Dublin City University] this week and then I’m taking a rest.”
He reckons it’s “30 years or so” since his last TV appearance. “I’m not really that comfortable with general shows on radio or TV. I’ve no interest at all.”
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Among those tagging along with the Taoiseach on this week’s trade mission to China was Griffith College’s colourful president Diarmuid Hegarty.
The private college has taken in many Chinese students since it was formed in 1974 and has relationships with 16 universities there, with the result that Hegarty was this week given an honorary professorship by the Beijing Information, Science and Technology University.
Hegarty has gone to great lengths to foster positive relationships with the Chinese over the years. In October 2009 he even recorded a message in Chinese, or it may have been Mandarin, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic and 30 years of diplomatic relations with Ireland.
The link is too convoluted to print here but Google it when you get a chance. It’s an absolute hoot.
