Almost 400 business professionals gathered to discuss the challenges of Brexit at the Ireland Chapter of Project Management Institute’s (PMI) annual national conference at the Aviva Stadium today. 

With the theme ‘Challenge in Changing Times’, this year’s conference, the largest to date, focused on the need for Irish businesses to draw on the strategic competence of project management, in order to deal with the implications of Brexit. 

Some of the country’s leading experts in project management spoke at the Dublin event, including Cathriona Hallahan, Managing Director of Microsoft Ireland; Féilim Harvey, Partner in PwC heading up their Portfolio and Programme Management Practice in Ireland; and Jackie Glynn, Head of Portfolio Management Office at Three Ireland. Keynote speech was by Irish sporting legend, Jim McGuinness.

 MC and conference speaker, John Gallen, managing director of the corporate law firm gallenalliance said: “With Brexit, there is set to be a substantive move of operations to Ireland. From data centres to financial services, all the way to Fourth Generation IoT Technology, many companies are preparing to move UK-based operations here. There needs to be national infrastructure in place to cope with this. The role of the project manager in Ireland will never be greater as it will be for the coming years.”

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Speaking at the conference, Ireland Chapter of PMI President Niall Murphy added: “Managing Brexit, and all the geopolitical and economic uncertainties, will require strong leadership involving real collaboration, excellent communication and teamwork across all business functions. Knowing how to recognise opportunities and overcome the challenges that await, will be critical to a successful outcome. This conference equips Ireland’s project managers with the insight and knowledge they need to pursue and develop those skills.”  

Membership of the Ireland Chapter of PMI is over 1,200 and currently there are over 50,000 employed in project management across Ireland, in sectors such as IT, public sector, construction, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing. For more on the Ireland Chapter of Project Management Institute see www.pmi-ireland.org