ICAS Ambassador for Ireland - Ewan Dunbar

Ewan shares his experience of living and working in Dublin, his tips for things to see and do in the area and how you can connect with the local ICAS community.

What's your day job?

I'm CEO at xPotential Limited.

How long have you lived in Ireland?

23 years.

Where was home for you before?

Glasgow.

Where did you train as a CA?

I trained with KPMG in Glasgow.

Which part of Ireland do you call home?

I will always think of Glasgow as home but my family home is now in the suburbs of Dublin.

What’s the one thing I shouldn’t miss if visiting the area?

You can’t go wrong with a weekend break to Dublin, visiting the obvious sites, including the Guinness Store house, the Jameson distillery, Trinity College, Phoenix Park and Dublin Zoo, live music etc. The Viking splash tour is a bit of added fun to do while in town and there are some excellent free museums to wonder around.

I’m new to the area, can you recommend somewhere for:

A business lunch - I would go to somewhere like Sophies in the Dean, Harcourt Street, where you sit and have a panoramic view from the rooftop.
An evening out - An evening out would start at Café en Seine bar on Dawson Street followed by Fire restaurant and then O’Donoghue’s Bar for some live music (that is a tried and tested corporate tour!).
A weekend getaway - I would head to the west coast to Galway or even Killarney or the Arran Isles!

Describe the local professional community in three words:

Approachable. Dynamic. Village.

What are the best things about living and working in Dublin?

Culturally, Dublin is very similar to Scotland so Scottish expats are accepted as just part of the community here. Dublin is a vibrant and energetic business environment with some of the biggest companies in the world with European HQ here providing significant opportunities and providing economic prosperity for the region and country (this has a lot of positives but also some negatives in terms of class divides and pushing up the cost of living).

And what are the biggest challenges?

In fast-paced business environments in Dublin, work practices continue to be a challenge where long hours and ‘always on’ practices are common which can tilt the work/ life balance in the wrong direction. I coach many senior leaders both in Dublin and internationally, where the issues of managing workloads, pressurised work environment, imposter syndrome, not having enough time and mentally decompressing from work are constant themes for high-performance teams and individuals.

The modern reality of hybrid working can support a better balance in work practices, however, it has presented a new set of challenges for business leaders in terms of communication, collaboration and the development of high-performance teams.

What advice would you give to another CA considering an opportunity in Dublin?

Ireland provides an excellent opportunity to CAs for fast and rapid professional fulfilment in an environment that is very welcoming to ICAS members. My best advice would be to reach out to other members in this region for advice as the main hurdle to navigate will be the cost of housing and the inflated rental market.

While many people find networking with strangers a challenge, Dublin really is a village so it is important to make the effort to develop a strong person and business community (like anywhere there is an element of “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”).

What made you decide to get involved and become an ICAS Ambassador?

I am a real advocate for networking in an authentic way (with a view to getting to know people and helping them where possible). I was introduced to Graham Stirling who was relocating to Dublin from Singapore and was already deeply involved with ICAS over in Asia. We decided that we would like to support the network of ICAS members in Ireland which worked out well with Claire in Belfast.