Opening Doors to do Business in Ireland
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
Cameron Millikin, is the Honourary Consul General, Government of Ireland in Alberta, with responsibilities for Trade and Politics. I recently met with Millikin at Ceili’s Irish Pub on Eighth Avenue in Calgary.
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| CAMERON MILLIKIN |
Cameron Millikin was born in Dublin and immigrated to Alberta in 1958, where he started work in the oil business. “I started off as a roughneck when I first came out here and I was roughnecking on the oil rigs. I also worked in Mexico, off-shore Louisiana, in the Arctic and all around Western Canada. I was promoted to the office and with time became the assistant to the president of the company. Eventually, I went out on my own.”
He spoke about his role as Honourary Consul saying, “this is an unpaid position and I'm privileged and honoured to be asked to do it. I am also the Prime Minister's representative on the International Fund for Ireland. In fact, I’ve just recently come back from Ireland.”
Millikin said, “what I do is attempt to find companies in Alberta or Western Canada who are interested in settling in Ireland to do trade. That’s difficult because people here are mainly going south or they’re going offshore. There are good trade figures but it’s mostly from the East – either Central Canada or from the Maritimes – but very little from Vancouver or British Columbia.”
Millikin has excellent business and political connections in Ireland and can provide an introduction for anyone wishing to set up a business in Ireland. He said there are two ways which a business can approach setting up in Ireland.
“They can go about it in their own way and go over to Ireland and make their own contacts,” he said, “or they can go through me and save a lot of time and money, and the bonus is they don’t have to pay me anything.
“I have very good connections in Ireland from the taoiseach’s office on down and also with all the heads of the civil service. I can open a lot of doors for interested companies and make it much easier for them. That’s the advantage they would have by going through me.”
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| DOODIE CAHILL |
Millikin said his mandate is strictly business and trade and anyone wishing to renew their passport or seeking information on immigration to Ireland should contact Doodie Cahill in Edmonton who is the Honourary Consul of Ireland for Alberta.
In Calgary, the heart of Irish culture is the Irish Cultural Society which has it own centre in the Bowness area of Calgary where they hold dances, plays and céilís. “The group has a lot of spirit and there is no partisanship – it is north and south and everybody getting on together,” said Millikin.
“The volunteers at the club put in an enormous amount of work and effort. I am an active member of the Irish Cultural Society and attend all the events and enjoy it enormously. It’s a really vibrant and going concern.”
For more information about doing business in Ireland, contact the Honourary Consul General Cameron Millikin at (403) 243-2970, fax (403) 287-1023.
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