Entrepreneurs aim to juggle business and politics: ThePost.ie


TCH Archives > Sunday Business Post > 2007/02/25 > Entrepreneurs aim to juggle business and politics

Entrepreneurs aim to juggle business and politics
Sunday, February 25, 2007 - By Simon Carswell
Running for the Dail is an expensive business. However, for businesspeople seeking political office, it can be even more costly, as they must juggle running a campaign and a business simultaneously.

And i f they fai l to get elected, they must return to a business that they have spent months away from. A number of candidates running in the forthcoming general election have their own businesses, but have been forced to scale back their work to focus on their campaigns. Most say it is the time spent away from the business that is most costly, rather than the money invested in the campaign.

Brody Sweeney, who set up the O’Brien’s sandwich bars chain, is running for Fine Gael in Dublin North-East. He stepped down as chief executive of his business in January 2006, becoming chairman of the company, so he could concentrate on his political career.

‘‘That gave me the freedom to go off and do this,” said Sweeney. ‘‘There are two issues in this - it’s about getting elected and then what to do with your business after you are elected, whether you will be a backbench TD or a minister.

I cannot plan for the second phase just yet.

‘‘I will continue to take a deep interest in the direction we are going in the business,” said Sweeney, who still spends up to 15 hours a week working on the business.

Sweeney said that 2006, the first year he was not in charge of the day-to-day running of the business, was the best-performing year in the company’s 18-year history. Fiacra Nagle had taken over from Sweeney at the start of the year.

Sweeney said there were parallels between running a company and running for public office.

‘‘The business of getting elected is about name recognition - it is similar to developing a brand in business,” he said.

‘‘A lot of the marketing skills that you use to sell sandwiches are similar to those you use to get elected.”

Green Party candidate Mark Dearey, who is running for the Dail in Louth, owns and manages a bar, venue and music promotions business in Dundalk called The Spirit Store, where he employs ten to 15 staff.

‘‘It is extremely difficult to juggle business and politics,” said Dearey, who is also a councillor in Louth. ‘‘I have loaded extra responsibility on my bar manager and event manager while I go awol for the election. Without them it could have cost the business.

‘‘I have isolated the business from the commitment I have made in politics, so the only hit on the business is the loss of the work that I would do for it.”

Dearey said he was investing tens of thousands of euro, most of which he had borrowed, in his campaign.

‘‘I am borrowing so I am not exposing the business,” he said. ‘‘There is a very clear demarcation.”

He said he was always conscious of trying to ‘‘not over-associate’’ his business with his politics. Dominic Hannigan, who runs a planning, engineering and transport consultancy, is running for Labour in Meath East.

‘‘If I am successful, I will be stepping away from the business,” he said. ‘‘Over the last couple of years I have seen it coming. I have got a few people working for me. I have the ability to hand over my business responsibilities.”

He said managing a business and an election campaign was ‘‘all about balancing your time’’.