TODAY THE MINISTER for Trade and Commerce, Deputy John McGuinness (at left), launched the Spirit of Enterprise Programme, an enterprise activity that will spin up as week-long seminars in venues throughout southeast Ireland. Minister McGuinness visited Clonmel in County Tipperary to address a group of 68 people who heard him bring a businessman's perspective to how small companies, their entrepreneurs and their challenges should be viewed by county enterprise boards and Enterprise Ireland. In many ways, the minister could have taken snippets out of the conversations heard throughout Ireland during OpenCoffee sessions all across Ireland. Those loosely-organised events involve issues that could feature on programmes offered in communities during the Spirit of Enterprise Week in southeast Ireland. The minister's remarks fit inside the enclosed 16-minute [12.1 MB 96 kbps MP3] audio clip. He shares his perspective on bank managers, the damaging narrow view often emerging when agencies fail to represent shared interest, the need for better infrastructure (i.e., broadband and roads), the possibility of a University of the Southeast, and challenges that should be met by State enterprise agencies.
Events related to the spirit of enterprise feature regularly in podcast episodes entitled "Inside View". This audio recording was made with a Beyerdynamic MCE 86 shotgun mic held 4m back from the speaker, alongside a window open at the top to a busy street outside.
