James Collins – Live in a City That Works for You
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JAMES COLLINS – LIVE IN A CITY THAT WORKS FOR YOU The taste for politics started in Dooradoyle, and school for all the family. Limerick was developed in Dublin, and now is delivering where we chose to be.” real results in his native city. It’s 17 years James grew up in Dooradoyle opposite St since newly married James and Eileen Paul’s school. His family was in the Collins left Dublin and returned to their hospitality trade – his father Michael native Limerick in search of a better life. owned the Railway Hotel, before he “We wanted to live in a became a TD for city where we enjoyed Limerick in 1997. life, where we could James’ uncle is work and have access Gerry Collins, a to good schools when former Minister for we had children of our Foreign Affairs and own. Life to us was MEP. James’ about more than having cousin is Niall decent jobs. We both Collins, the Fianna worked in IT and were Fail TD for west in our early twenties Limerick, and working hard and Fianna Fail enjoying life. I was spokesperson on travelling to London foreign affairs and and spending a lot of trade. Politics is in time in the United his blood. States. Life was Eileen shared exciting and our career James’ background prospects were good, in pubs and politics. but more than anything Originally from we both wanted a life Ballyclough, for all the family. Eileen’s family, the “Dublin at the time was O’Deas, were a very difficult city to licensed vintners live in and to get too; running John around: public transport A proud day for the family: with my wife, Joe O’Dea’s pub wasn’t good; rents were Eileen, and our four children, Eoghan, on Mulgrave Street high; buying a house 16, Thomas, 14, Daniel, 11, and beside Limerick was expensive. A lot Beibhinn 8. Prison. Eileen’s like now. mothers family, the Crawfords of Garryspillane were always “But more than anything, we felt we were steeped in Limerick Fianna Fail and today, just living to work. We both wanted to build Eileen’s brother, Councillor Jerry O’Dea, a family life outside of work, to live some runs the pub. Her Dad, John Joe, is FG. It place where there was more balance, is probably too late to change him now. good schools, and plenty to do after work Seventeen years after the move from the UK, Europe and the US. I was based in Dublin, the couple has no regrets. When Dublin head office, but would have James and Eileen walk around Mungret travelled regularly with them. I got to spend Park in the evenings or weekends with some time in Accenture’s Global Treasury their four children, Eoghan, 16, Thomas, Department at their head office in Chicago 14, Daniel, 11, and Beibhinn 8, these are as part of a project team. I was going into the family moments they dreamed of when well-established businesses that were leaving life in the capital. undergoing transformational change. I was Eileen was studying computer science at part of a team of consultants that would Maynooth, while James was doing a help bring about that change. I learned Masters in Business in UCD, specialising quickly from that about having a vision for in management information systems, an something, seeing the obstacles that are early version of Business and Information there, and planning a strategy for how you Technology. James had gone to school at overcome those obstacles to bring about St Paul’s and St the original Munchins, where vision you he played centre have. on the same Understand team as his the schoolmate and problem, contemporary, achieve the the late Anthony solution. It Foley. After St sounds Munchins, abstract, James went to but actually UL, and played that is for Munster exactly Under 20s, what we did before to bring graduating in about the 1995 with a civic and degree in educational economics and James outside one of the three new schools planned campus at financial for Mungret. The area is being master planned for Mungret services. several hundred new houses. It is an example of how College.” “I was doing my things should be done: put the services, roads, sports When masters in 1995 and community facilities in first. Then the houses. James and studying Eileen ecommerce and married in creating websites 2000 and at a time when people were getting used to returned late that year to live in Limerick, the internet. Eileen was doing computer politics was part of both their family lives, science in Maynooth, but they didn’t have but it was not in either of their immediate enough computers in the class to do her plans. projects, so she used to come out to UCD “Obviously we had a lot in common, not and use our computers, so much so some just that we were both from Limerick of my classmates thought she was actually families involved in the pub trade. But the on the course. thing we had most in common was a belief “After I finished my masters, I worked with that there has to be more to life than just Accenture for four or five years. I travelled working and commuting. We wanted to get around, working as a management married and move back to Limerick, where consultant going into businesses in Dublin, we could raise a family, have good schools around us, and plenty to do in the you don’t know how to do something, find evenings. Anybody who lived in Dublin in somebody who does. the early to mid-90s will remember: it was “Obviously like most people we had very so hard to get around, there was a DART, difficult years beginning around 2007, but no Luas, a limited bus service and 2008 and 2009. We were right on the queues for taxis at night.” doorstep of Dell. When Dell moved They moved back to Limerick and began manufacturing operations, 2,000 jobs the process of designing and building their moved almost overnight. By 2010 at the own pub on the “My parents ran the Railway Bar next to the height of the crash, site in Dooradoyle. People’s Park. Some of my fondest we had four “We designed the childhood memories were getting ice creams children under the bar, got on site in from this kiosk in the park, which is sadly no age of eight. When March 2004, and longer open.” we opened first, we opened 16 Dell was busy, December 2004. It Limerick was busy. was supposed to be We were busy. a 12-month build and we did it in nine “What I found here with my customers was months. We had to borrow massively. We they might be working in Dell and married still have a big commercial mortgage here, to someone working in Dell, so both of and we employ about 30 people, so them had lost their jobs. I knew some of overheads are high and you’ve got to keep our customers who were on their second busy to meet your repayments. Our style is home – because they’d traded up on their to hire good people, train them and first home or apartment and then rented empower them. Give your team that out to two people in Dell. So I had responsibility and watch them go. If your customers here who were in double good enough, you’re old enough. When negative equity and unemployed. It was one of the main reasons I got involved in of jobs. politics in 2009. Limerick needed jobs. Lots “I had helped out in previous campaigns, particularly, and in housing – making sure canvassing, postering and helping out with everyone has access to the housing constituency clinics but I wasn’t hugely market, including social and affordable active personally in politics until 2009. housing. But we are a long way down the Things were tough here and I used my road from a city that was trapped in the training to re-organise the business and boom-bust cycle, over-reliant on one put a strategy in place. But the community industry – whether that was Dell or Krupps was in a bad place, my business was in – to provide the main employment. “Now we have multiple industries and employment sources – Northern Trust, Regeneron, Analog, General Motors, Stryker and Dell, which is still here. I was very outspoken on the need for different types of industries so that all your eggs aren’t in the one basket and as a director of Innovate Limerick I played a significant role in the purchase and development of Troy Studios, something which brings a different the middle of a neighbourhood that needed type of employment to help to change, and Limerick City needed the city but also adds to our reputation as to change if we were all going to get back a liveable, creative city. to a strong position and survive this “We are now planning our city in a downturn. That was when I really felt coordinated way, so that Limerick life is politics could help people’s lives, so long about living and working. When we moved as it was about having a strategy to back here, we wanted a life where our achieve a long-term vision, not just doing children would grow up with opportunities knee-jerk things for votes. Thankfully we after school. We wanted them to be able to are now in a much different place. It took go to university here if they wanted to, and time for the city and the people to feel we wanted to have job opportunities for confident again.