Vincent Daly
Born: July 10th, 1938
Died: June 11th, 2022
Vincent Daly, who has died aged 83, was an Irish patriot of a new type — a businessman who used his technical and managerial skills to advance this country’s interests in a remarkably consistent way over a quarter of a century. He was chief executive of Ericsson Ireland, the Irish subsidiary of the Swedish multinational telecommunications giant, which he led from 1966 until the early 1990s, after being recruited directly by them following his graduation in Electrical Engineering at NUI Cork in 1960.
Toxic algae are once again turning Lough Neagh green. The response is as stagnant as the water
I’m finally ready to ditch my car. Here’s how I’ll manage it
Joe Biden has ended the agony. The Democrats now have a fighting chance to save the American republic
Being in the US right now is living in the pages of a burning history book
It was characteristic of him, however, that he made this valuable contribution to his native country very discreetly. As former colleague and well-known business figure Gary McGann told the congregation at Daly’s funeral Mass last week in Foxrock, Co Dublin, “it was a matter of fascination to me how little is known about him outside of his circle… Vincent was a major influence on the history and development of Irish industry… but in the quietest possible manner. He was the epitome of the silent influencer.”
Daly’s modus operandi had different aspects to it, but one of them was to get to know everyone in the old Department of Posts and Telegraphs, and subsequently its successor for the telecommunications industry, Telecom Éireann, “from the doorman to the minister or CEO”, and to recruit the best people — some from the old department and Telecom Éireann — at exactly the right time to grow the business.
This networking quality became critical in 1982, when, in what was known as the “lamb for telephones deal”, then taoiseach Charles Haughey arranged for Alcatel, Ericsson’s French rival, to enter the Irish market with a 50 per cent share. Working closely with then minister for industry Albert Reynolds, Daly, using his contacts, ensured the French giant ended up with only 30 per cent of the market.
This not so much saved Ericsson in Ireland, as consolidated a company which had grown rapidly since coming to the country in 1964, when it was a very basic sales and physical installation outfit.
His timely executive recruitment policy enabled Ericsson Ireland to grow in two historically distinct steps, firstly as a manufacturer, in Athlone, of hardware, and then, as this was gradually outsourced to cheaper locations from the 1980s onwards, of software design operations, also in Athlone, with a research and development department in Glasthule, south Dublin. Today, Ericsson Ireland employs more than 1,000 people in Ireland and plays a global role in advising and supporting Ericsson companies and customers in many parts of the world.
His networking skills included developing a close working relationship with Ericsson’s famous technical guru Björn Svedberg, and Daly’s relentless focus on delivering everything on time cemented ties with Stockholm.
This relationship with his Swedish colleagues owed something — perhaps not a little — to what might be termed a very Irish aspect of Daly’s style, namely an ability to ensure that Swedish colleagues visiting Ericsson Ireland left with happy memories of their time here. In his address at Foxrock church, McGann recalled that “some left Ireland in tears and I am reminded of the opening paragraph of the first Ericsson group internal audit of Ireland (after reviewing Vincent’s expense account) that ‘Ireland is a high-entertainment-cost country, but by all accounts it is justified’.”
This emollient quality was probably to the fore also in Daly’s negotiations with unions to resolve a potentially very damaging 16-week strike during his period as chief executive.
Daly developed a relationship with the Irish semi-state sector. McGann told The Irish Times that Daly “was a hugely passionate believer of foreign direct investment [being] massively delivered through the public sector”.
Daly was also a strong believer in the State, encouraging and assisting the development of indigenous Irish start-up companies, and readily put himself at the service of Forbairt (now Enterprise Ireland) and the Industrial Development Authority (IDA). Kieran McGowan, former chief executive of the IDA, in a comment to this newspaper, said that he and other colleagues in the agencies “would regularly go to Vincent [for advice] because of his sheer common sense and judgment... he was completely committed to Forbairt and the IDA.”
In the later stages of his career at Ericsson Ireland, Daly became increasingly supportive of small new Irish innovating companies, investing in some of them himself.
Outside of business, Daly had a passionate interest in National Hunt racing, and a very notable one at that, as an owner. His main trainer, with over 90 per cent of his horses, was Mouse Morris. Daly’s most successful horses were Boss Doyle, who was the leading novice chaser in England in 1998, Lastofthebrownies, which came fourth in two successive Aintree Grand Nationals, and Three Brownies, which came fifth in the great race another year.
Morris remarked that Daly had no interest whatsoever in flat racing, and also eschewed the hurdles of Cheltenham completely. “Vincent wouldn’t cross the road for Cheltenham… but he loved the Aintree Grand National and had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of the race, going right back to the year dot.”
Ever the patriotic Irishman, Daly, who was a fluent but tolerant Gaeilgeoir, had silks of green, white, gold and white, which were brought to the altar at his funeral Mass as one of the symbols of his life by one of his granddaughters.
Vincent Daly was a native of Clashmore, Co Waterford, and was one of the six children of Thomas and Sheilagh Daly (nee Dempsey), a garda and a homemaker respectively. He was educated locally, before attending university, at Dungarvan CBS, to which he won a scholarship from Clashmore National School. He is survived by his wife, Anne (nee O’Driscoll), formerly a bank manager, their daughters Clodagh, Maureen and Kim, and their sons Vincent and Stephen; and by his brothers Michael and Kevin, and a sister, Sheilagh Staunton. He was predeceased by his brother Donal and his sister Maureen.