2008 guest speaker
Charlie McCreevy
European Commissioner
Commissioner for the Internal Market European Commission, since 2004. Charlie was born in County Kildare in 1949, on leaving school he went to University College Dublin where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce before studying Accountancy and becoming a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
With a gift for Politics Charlie joined the Fianna Fail party for the constituency of County Kildare in 1977, becoming Minister for Social Welfare in 1993, Minister for Tourism and Trade in1993 culminating as one of the most popular Ministers for Finance in the States history, until September 2004 when he left Ireland to take up the prestigious position that he now holds in Europe.
Charlie McCreevy was a talented Minister for finance who steered Irish finances with a sound hand, never forgetting it was the people of Ireland with all their differences not a financial ledger, he lowered the betting Tax so every small punter could join in and thereby increasing the Tax take, he taught people how to save with the SSIAs leaving people with a nest egg for the present harsh economic times.