Address by Minister Noel Treacy at a reception hosted by Ernst & Young in honour of Cork Weddings .Com a South Cork CEB/Young Enterprise Ireland Company who took the Title of European Company of the Year 2001, on 4th October 2001, at 5.30 p.m.

It is with great pleasure that I was able to accept the invitation from Mr. Jim Brennan Chief Executive of the South Cork Enterprise Board to attend this reception held in honour of seven young business directors -transition year students from CBS Midleton, Co Cork who have succeeded in taking the title of "European Company of the Year 2001" which was held in Moscow in August of this year.

Cork Weddings.Com, a one stop-shop internet service business targeted at wedding service providers and couples planning to get married, was the brainchild of Ronan Tatlon, Sean Flannery, Shane O' Mahony, William Murphy, Eric Lahive and James Northridge. who with the help of some very committed teachers were able to learn about the world of work and business by doing it for themselves.

This has been made possible because of programmes such as Young Enterprise Ireland (YEI) who in conjunction with the Enterprise Boards have set about educating young people to understand and value the role of work and enterprise through practical business-related projects that develop attitudes and skills for personal success.

The County Enterprise Boards at their inception, were given the task of "Creating an Enterprise Culture" throughout Ireland. The Boards felt that the best place to begin this change was with young people in the schools as these will be the entrepreneurs of the future.

In 1995 the South Cork Enterprise Board, together with the three other Cork Boards, agreed a joint strategy for Enterprise Development in the entire Cork region.

This strategy which was to become one of the first private/public partnerships was the funding of "Young Enterprise Ireland" (YEI) a company up to then privately supported, to carry out Enterprise Development within the schools using the very successful Young Enterprise model.

The benefits of such a partnership was that YEI had personnel on the ground to provide:

• Support and training for teachers
• Business advisers, for students
• Trade fairs, both regional and international
• Business planning & the development of a Business Plan
• Getting into business through "Learning by doing", and
• Adjudicators for Enterprise competitions supplied by the Enterprise Boards.

This strategy has proved very successful and will have substantial long-term benefits in helping Ireland's youth to develop attitudes and skills for personal success and life -long learning and employability.

The unrivalled success of the Irish economy in recent years has confounded many commentators. The question where and how it all began and the ingredients for its rapid growth have been pondered at great length. Most would agree that the exceptionally high standards of education here in Ireland go a long way towards answering those questions.

Our students are an undoubtedly talented resource. Time and time again, major international companies contemplating an investment in Ireland have indicated that the calibre of our young people and their excellent educational standards were the key factor which prompted them to invest here.

However, we need to be careful that we do not think of our students and graduates only in terms of employees. We must see them, and more important, they must see themselves as potential employers.

I have said it before that fostering the spirit of entrepreneurship is what will drive the creation of jobs investment and growth, as this is in my view, critical to the long-term prosperity of the Irish economy. At every level we need to encourage enterprise and innovation, open up opportunity, build on our strengths and competitive advantages, reward excellence, be prepared to experiment, and in particular tolerate the failures that will inevitably arise on the road to success.

The impact of the recent tragic events in New York has compounded the economic uncertainty that was beginning to appear in global markets this year. Ireland, as a small open economy, is in particular, vulnerable to any international downturn. However I believe that Ireland will prove resilient in the face of economic turbulence. We can meet this challenge if individual enterprises plan well and are flexible and creative to their approach to market difficulties.

Finally I would like to pay tribute to all of the young people who took part in this competition - this evening is an acknowledgement of your hard work and diligence. There are a great many pressures on students to-day and it is very encouraging to see the confidence of the students and their whole understanding of the business world. I have no doubt that this experience will prove of great benefit to you, not just during your time in school, but also in your future exciting careers ahead. I hope that those of you who choose business as a career will fulfil your dreams, whatever they be.