UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
HONORARY CONFERRING
Friday, 4 December 2015 at 3 p.m.
TEXT OF THE INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR CIARÁN Ó hÓGARTAIGH on 4 December 2015, on the occasion of the conferring of the Degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa on PAUL HARAN
A Uachtáran, a mhuintir na hOllscoile agus a dhaoine uaisle,
Fáilte romhaibh inniu and comhghairdeas as ucht an éacht atá bainte amach agaibh.
I am particularly pleased to welcome Paul Haran, his wife Anne and his family who join us here today.
When we award honorary doctorate such as we do today, we signal what we value as a business school and as a university. There is much to value in the life and work of Paul M. Haran. I will first outline his career to date and then draw from this what we value and cherish.
Paul Haran is the Senior Non Executive Independent Director of Glanbia plc, one of Ireland’s largest international food companies, with effect from 1 December 2014. He was appointed to the Board on 9 June 2005 and has served nine full years on the Board. Glanbia is one of Ireland’s leading food and leading global companies, focussed on the international growth which is key for the Irish economy and for Irish companies wishing to scale.
He is a Director of a number of companies including the Mater Private Hospital, and Insurance Ireland. He also chairs Edward Dillon Co, Ireland’s largest importer of premium spirits and wines.
He is a former Director of Bank of Ireland, the Road Safety Authority, the Institute of Public Administration and the Qualifications Authority of Ireland.
He retired at the end of 2004 as Secretary General of the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment after a public sector career of almost 30 years. His trajectory in the public sector is emblematic of the axiom if you are good enough you are old enough, having achieved senior leadership positions at a relatively young age.
It is also emblematic of innovation. Paul played a key role in a number of key innovations and initiatives. He was instrumental in the establishment of Science Foundation Ireland which to this day invests in research across the third level sector. He also played a key role in the introduction of a single rate of corporation tax, which as we know is a critical aspect – among other things such as a well-educated workforce – of the ecosystem of support for foreign direct investment in Ireland.
Part of his career was in the Revenue Commissioners where he introduced innovations in computerisation and analysis which presages and predates the concept of business analytics before it ever became a subject of interest in many universities and business schools.
Paul was appointed to the Ministerial Advisory Council for Public Sector Reform for Northern Ireland during 2014, a signal that he is recognised as a man of reform.
He graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a B.Sc. in Computer Science and also has an M.Sc. in Public Sector Analysis.
He served as Chairman of the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School Advisory Board until September 2014 having first joined us as Principal of the College of Business & Law in September 2005.
What does this man’s record of public service teach us?
First and foremost, it is a record of public service. Increasingly, as a business school, we see our role as developing leaders for the public good and society and increasingly, as business graduates, you will find yourselves in that position. We have learned over the last number of decades that business can make a difference in society for good or, unfortunately as we know, for ill. When you are called to do so, it is our hope that you will embrace those opportunities for public service and leadership as Paul Haran has done. As business leaders you can see the world . . . and change the world.
Paul Haran’s career is characterised by public service. We hope your career will be one of service to the public too.
Paul’s record is also one of innovation, for example, innovation in analysis of taxation and taxpayers, innovation in taxation policy, innovation in research infrastructure. Very often innovation is seen as something dramatic, new product development or radical changes in organisational form. Important innovations can however be more mundane: they can be innovations in process, innovation in thinking, innovation in public policy. Don’t lose sight of those opportunities to innovate which can be nonetheless profound and impactful.
Paul Haran’s career is one of innovation. We hope you will innovate too.
Finally, Paul Haran is a man of reform, a man who understands the potential of collaboration and knows that we are too small an island to compete with each other. Working with him and knowing him, he was always keen to see opportunities to bring people and organisations together, where the sum would be greater than the parts. I’ve just finished a book called Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Hariri. In that, Hariri argues that we are where are today as homo sapiens – for good or ill – because of our ability to collaborate as a species. Many other species compete with each other and with others. Few other species collaborate – bees and ants perhaps – with the same facility as ourselves. This is a very powerful, thought-provoking argument.
Paul Haran is a man of collaboration and reform and we hope that you will be too.
For his sense of public service, his innovation and his commitment to collaboration and reform, it is our privilege to present a doctorate in laws honoris causa to Paul Haran.
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 in utroque Jure, tam Civili quam Canonico; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.