UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
HONORARY CONFERRING
Tuesday, 3 September 2013 at 5.30 p.m.
TEXT OF THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR PAUL O’CONNOR, UCD School of Law, University College Dublin on 3 September 2013, on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa on Declan McCourt
President, Honoured guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Declan Mc Court, son of the late Kevin and Peggy Mc Court, graduated with a BA in Economics and Politics from UCD in 1967 and an MA in Economics in 1968. In the same year he qualified as a Barrister-at-Law at the Honorable Society of King’s Inns. And, from 1971 to 1973, he studied at the Harvard Business School where he graduated with an MBA.
He commenced what was to become a distinguished and highly successful business career as a management trainee in Goulding Fertlizers Limited which was followed, shortly afterwards, by a two year period as a management consultant in the human resources consulting firm of Inbucon/AIC.
A centrally important and highly productive facet of his career is its international dimension which began in 1973 in Rome, Italy, when he was appointed Area Director and later Marketing Director of the European Division of the giant distilling firm Seagram. Following on from Italy he was appointed in 1977 Marketing Director of the International Division of Seagram Overseas Sales in New York and later Vice President of Operations.
He returned to Ireland in 1979 where he took up the position of Chief Operating Officer of the TMG Group. However, it is the year 1982 that stands out as particularly significant in the already highly successful business career of Declan McCourt. It was in that year that he joined the OHM Group as partner and Chief Executive and, in the following years, played a pivotal and dynamic role in developing the Group. The OHM Group is now a leading automotive business, with a staff of some 200, that imports and distributes motor cars and commercial vehicles and is one which has an extensive wholesale and retail distribution network throughout Ireland.
Declan McCourt’s high standing, business acumen, and reputation did not go unnoticed for too long and it is not surprising, therefore, that he was invited to serve on the boards of many companies. He has, for example, been a director of the Bank of Ireland and the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. Currently, he is a non executive Director of Fyffes plc and of Balmoral International Land Holdings plc.
Like his father Kevin, Declan McCourt has displayed a deep and enduring commitment to Ireland and to the well being of the community at large. This generosity of spirit is demonstrated in his interest in health care and education. He has, for many years, served as Chairman of the Mater Foundation, the official fundraising body of the Mater University Hospital which, since 2001, has remitted over 18,000,000 euro to the hospital.
In the field of education he chairs UCD’s School of Law Development Council. This Council has, under his inspiring leadership, generated substantial resources for the law school among the more notable being the funding of two new Chairs in the areas of European Law and Commercial Law. A truly spectacular achievement is the new Sutherland School of Law building which provides such eloquent and visible testimony to his leadership, generosity, dedication and capacity to make a real, lasting, and beneficial difference to Irish society.
Declan McCourt is married to Margaret Walsh and they have four children and eight grand children.
Praehonorabilis Praeses, totaque Universitas,
Praesento vobis hunc meum filium, quem scio tam moribus quam doctrina habilem et idoneum esse qui admittatur, honoris causa, ad gradum Doctoratus utroque Jure, tam Civili quam Canonico; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.