Martin Shanahan looks a little more relaxed than normal. It could be the six-month break he has taken, during which he travelled to New Zealand, Australia and Vietnam, or it could be the fact he’s without his staple green tie, a sartorial ever-present during his time as IDA chief executive.
He is sitting in a conference room on the seventh floor of the Grant Thornton head office in Dublin’s Docklands area. The buildings that line the Liffey outside house companies that he lured to the capital as boss of IDA Ireland.
As he steps up as GT’s partner and head of industry and foreign direct investment (FDI), Shanahan isn’t ready to shed his salesman identity just yet.
In his new role he will still be
