Con Power
Summary Biographical Note June 2025
Dr Cornelius (Con) Patrick Power, born Waterford 29 January 1939; parents Henry Power, Accountant & Hide Merchant (1902-1947) & Catherine Madeline (ne้ O’Sullivan), Primary School Teacher (1902-1976); parental home 1939: Gracedieu Lower, Waterford X91 P6D3. Post-graduate career: 1963-2005: Director, DCP Consultants Ltd (1993-2005); Director (Economic Affairs), Ibec (CII) (1979-1993), formally assigned by CII to Department of the Environment & Local Government (1988-1989; non-executive - 1993), and Department of the Taoiseach (1992-1993; projects to 01-1994); President/Principal, IT Sligo (ATU Sligo)(1972-1979 – biographical note as a former President is on the current website of ATU Sligo); Research Officer (Unit Leader), An Foras Forbartha – The National Institute for Physical Planning & Construction Research (Department of the Environment & Local Government)(1967-1972); Lecturer, DIT (TU Dublin)(1964-1967) ; Inspector of Taxes (1963-1964). Retired 31-03-2005; on Retired Register of my 3 Chartered Professional Bodies from that date.
Education & formation: BComm (Hons 2.1 1963 UCD), linked with training as Accountant and Chartered Governance Professional under tutelage of Kennedy Crowley & Co (KPMG), and Gardner Donnelly & Co (Deloitte), including assignments in the public, professional practice, and private sectors, Ireland & UK (1956-1963) (Career break 1957-59, philosophy, and 1st Science UCD 1958-59). Academic Post-graduate: MEconSc (Hons 2.1 1965 UCD), Political Economy & Management Accounting (Dissertation: Working Capital Control); PhD, Business Administration, (State of California institutional, and degree programme approvals, PWU 1988): qualifying dissertation, Ireland’s Strategic National Roads Network: A Key to Economic Development (published CII Newsletter, July 1988), and thesis, The Environment for Enterprise, revised, up-dated, and published Metamorphosis: Lessons from the formative years of the Celtic Tiger 1979-1993(Cork: Oak Tree Press, 2009; hardback, 340pp); MA Religion & Culture (Hons 1.1 2010 DCU/MDI) (6 modular assignments – Theology, Philosophy, and Ethics; Thesis: Christian Morality: Key to Temporal Prosperity); and Certificate in Christian Theology and Practice, Church of Ireland Theological Institute/TCD (2022). Professional: Chartered Governance Professional & Incorporated Commercial Accountant (ACIS & ASCA 1964; FSCA 1968-1980; FCIS 1975 – now FCG), Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA 1970 – FCMA/CGMA 1975), and Chartered Certified Accountant (FCCA 1980). Peer awards, including Companion, Engineers Ireland, for services relating to the national roads network, and ‘Chartered Certified Accountant of Year’ 2002 (ACCA Ireland).
Non-executive: Chairman each of 20 organisations, including interim National Roads Authority, Department of the Environment & Local Government (NRA)(1988-1993), Independent Hospitals Association of Ireland (IHAI)(1999-2002), Anotherway ULC (subsidiary UTV Media plc) (2001-2008), Financial Services Ombudsman Council (Department of Finance)(2004-2008), and Disciplinary Committee of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, London (ACCA)(2012: Panel Member 1999-2012, and sometime Deputy Chairman); periods as Executive Chairman each of interim NRA, and IHAI. Sometime non-executive on boards / committees of 51 entities in the public, private, and professional services sectors in Ireland, UK, EU, and OECD, including Committee of the European Social Fund (1980-1988), Business & Industry Advisory Committee to OECD (Education Committee 1985-1992), British-Irish ENCOUNTER (2004-2006), and Governing Board of the Mater Dei Institute of Education, a College of DCU (2010-2018). Part-time lecturer, and extern examiner to Universities, Institutes of Technology, public sector entities, learned societies, and professional & trade bodies 1967-2009; and guest public lecturer 1965-2019.
Publications: 1 book, 7 booklets (three jointly); 3 private circulation pamphlets, and 284 articles on economics, corporate governance, public affairs, and on the PhD research areas of the legislative, regulatory, fiscal, administrative, and natural & built environment parameters that impact on the conduct of enterprise, manufacturing & services, public & private, national, and global. Published works, as at July 2016 (additions to April 2022), and 728 press-released public talks, with 1,911 related news media reports, indexed, and available for research in the Yeats Library of Atlantic Technological University [ATU Sligo campus]. I have a small number of published articles since July 2016, including a book chapter... the most recent publication is April 2022.
Personal: Member of a number of organisations in Ireland and UK, in the community, educational, public & international affairs, public service, and social sectors, including, with year of joining, UCD Alumni Association (1988), Institute of International & European Affairs (1991), Irish Association for Economic, Cultural, and Social Relations (1991), Royal Over-Seas Club (London, 1999), Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland (2008), Organisation for National Ex-Service Personnel (2012), and UCD University Club (2019). Member of the Church of Ireland (Anglican) (Licensed Parish Reader, Whitechurch Parish, Dublin). Widower: spouse, Maria Christina (ne้ Barrett) (1938-2017), with four adult children: Aideen (Lee) (1966), Ruth (Humphreys) (1968), Audrey (McGrath) (1972), and David Power (1979). End
