Mission Statement
We will win for Ireland, its people and its regions, the best in international innovation and investment so as to contribute to the continued transformation of Ireland to a world leading society which is rich in creativity, learning and personal and social well-being. We will work in partnerships with other organisations to enhance the best of Irish capabilities and talents and match them to the best of global investment. We will carry out our mission with integrity, professional excellence and responsiveness to all with whom we work or are in contact.
The Irish mind. Imaginative. Agile. And innovative.
The Irish imagination, embodied in its literary geniuses, has always been prepared to embrace the world. It is ready to use what is to hand -the life of the city, the English language - and mould it; it is ready to question what is old in order to make something new; it is prepared to embrace the outside world with passion, curiosity and originality.
In 'Ulysses', James Joyce has an Englishman ask about the state of Ireland and remark that it seems that history is to blame. Maybe history was to blame for the genius of Wilde and Joyce and Beckett; and maybe history is responsible too for the way in which Irish people operate in the world. Nothing is taken for granted in Ireland; people are honoured for thinking for themselves, both in the creative world and at work.
History has meant that no one in Ireland has inherited much money or strict class attitudes or an abiding sense of self-entitlement or self-importance. Everyone, both in the realm of writing and the world of business, has to start from scratch. This has made a real difference to the way Irish people adapt to changing technology or literary forms, to the way the Irish workforce has remained flexible, to the way in which imaginative solutions to problems are part of our treasure. This is the Irish system, adjusting to the moment, as Beckett did in his assimilation of the work of Oscar Wilde and James Joyce, and then his making good use of it, employing all his imagination and energy.
This is what Irish people do in every area of life, from how they travel and enjoy themselves, to how they study hard and learn quickly, to how they solve problems.
It is the legacy of history not as money in the bank or complacent pride but as represented by the mind at work, tense, alert, focused, ready to change, proud of its traditions and prepared to adapt them to any new systems which should prove useful whether in the world of poetry and fiction or in the place of work.
Colm Tòibìn