Mansion House Reception with Inflight Dublin
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Inflight Dublin hosted a cocktail and networking event on Monday April 28th at the Mansion House, where the Lord Mayor of Dublin Oisin Quinn opened up the evening with a very warm welcome. He garnered quite a few laughs when he bemused that he couldn’t promise a mayoral party like we might expect in Toronto, Canada, but he would see what he could do…and if the party did get out of hand he would duck out early.
The Lord Mayor explained that Dublin is quite a young city (50% of the population is under 30 years of age) and going through a strong growth phase, especially in the digital and entertainment fields. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all have offices in the city, which itself is a diverse demographic with residents from around the globe.
Dublin has the most Nobel laureates of any other city for Literature, and while James Joyce frequently comes to mind as a famed author he surprisingly does not join the ranks of George Barnard Shaw, W.B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney, who were all honored with the prize.
John White, CEO of Inflight Dublin, followed up the Lord Mayor’s introduction by pointing out that we were standing in the oldest mayoral residence in all of Ireland, and even Britain: a building of immense historical and cultural significance. He expanded on the Lord Mayor’s point on the success of the entertainment field in Ireland by noting that 14 actors from the country have received an Oscar award.
For those of us attending the 5th Annual Great IFE Quiz this evening at the Guinness Storehouse, here’s that freebie answer for you:
Austin Cedric Gibbons, who was born in Dublin, is credited for designing the Oscar statuette in 1928.
John wrapped up his speech with some impressive figures. Ireland is home to 5 million people, but receives 8 million tourists each year. Forbes Magazine recently named Dublin as one of the top cities to do business in, a clear signal of the level of innovation that the city is producing.
Finally, we were invited to take advantage of the use of the Lord Mayor’s personal bar, and the whole crowd toasted to that.