Irish in pitch for London Olympics 2012 contracts

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O’Keeffe, was in London last week pitching for deals for Irish firms for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Already, Irish firms have landed €200 million worth of contracts with the Olympic Development Authority (ODA). Mr O’Keeffe met building contractors P Elliott, John Sisk & Son and Jones Engineering, as well as other sub-suppliers, during a tour of construction sites and facilities for the Games. At peak times, it is estimated that 10 per cent of the teams on site have Irish passports. The ODA updated the minister on preparation for the Games in a detailed presentation and briefed him on opportunities for firms to land new contracts. He said Irish firms already had landed lucrative contracts for the Games and urged others to pitch for business opportunities from the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) - the group charged with the delivery of the Games. “The deals landed so far have mainly been on the construction side but I would urge Irish firms to pitch for the thousands of contracts that can still be won in areas such as security, catering, mobile buildings, waste management and venue fit-out,” said Mr O’Keeffe. The Government’s indigenous job creation agency, Enterprise Ireland, will hold an information session with 50 Irish firms and the LOCOG buying team today (Wednesday 13th October) in the Irish Embassy in London. Firms should visit CompeteFor.com to find out how to compete for contracts for the Olympic Games. “Our recovery will be export-led and the success so far of Irish firms shows that we can compete against global players across a number of sectors to win lucrative contracts and create jobs for Irish people,” added the minister. Enterprise Ireland’s head of international sales and partnering, Kevin Sherry, said: “Contracts for the Games in 2012 can give Irish firms the perfect launch pad for export-led growth in overseas markets. The experience and delivery that have helped Irish firms to win business at the Games in 2012 will position them well for other large-scale sporting projects such as the Commonwealth Games in Scotland in 2014 and World Cup and Olympics in Brazil in 2014 and 2016, respectively.” Most recently, 35 Irish firms met French partners to investigate opportunities around the 2016 Euro Championships in France.