Longship CEO and participant in the 2010 Genesis Programme Conor Buckley has been named as ‘Cork Person of the Year’ for 2009 in recognition of his work in reviving the ferry between Cork and Swansea.

The announcement was made on Friday afternoon last at the Cork Person of the Year gala awards lunch, before an audience, which included guest of honour President Mary McAleese.

Conor and the team at Longship www.longshipe.com have an office here in the Rubcion building. They provided an outsourced business process called EPO (Energy Process Outsourcing) for commercial energy users who are dissatisfied with their energy costs and current energy efficiencies.  In 2009 they helped their partners (customers) reduce carbon emissions by over 100 tonnes of CO2 and saved them over €100,000. 

Conor, who is also chairman of the West Cork Tourism Co-Op, spearheaded the drive to purchase the M V Julia, which goes into service on March 1 2010. The year-round ferry service will create up to 1,000 jobs and boost tourism for the whole south-west of Ireland region.

Conor, who was accompanied by his wife Celine, said he was delighted with the honour and would accept it on behalf of all the people who have invested and supported the re-launch of the ferry service, especially the grassroots support he received to purchase the ferry. 

“This is the dawn of a new era for the south-west and Fastnet Line, and the new route between Cork and Swansea will give a huge commercial boost to Cork's trade and tourism sectors worth €50m each year” said Mr. Buckley.

Conor acknowledged that being involved in this years Genesis programme with Denise Kennedy and her staff was a real bonus. "While I was attending the Genesis seminars to behalf of Longship, many of the issues that I faced in getting the co-op and Fastnet Line off the ground were addressed in our seminars". He also paid tribute to Paul Healy and the team at the Rubicon who facilitated many Fastnet Line meetings in 2009, "Paul was very generous with his time and extensive contacts, he has being a great friend of the project" said Conor.