Former House of Commons Speaker, John Bercow proves an engaging speaker at Chamber breakfast

Sponsored by Dooley Insurance Group, over 350 guests attended the Co Kildare Chamber breakfast on Thursday, 14 November, and all waited with anticipation to hear the former House of Common's Speaker, John Bercow.

Always engaging, always animated, the entertaining Mr Bercow did not disappoint, albeit it was a very different setting to his previous role in Westminster where he constantly called 'Order, order in the house!' as British members of parliament debated (and rejected) various Brexit deals with the EU.

Tim Dooley, of Dooley Insurance Group who sponsored the event spoke prior to Mr Bercow’s address. He explained that the company is 62 years in business and believed that Brexit would affect him going forward because, as he explained,

“In the last three years, the volume of business we now place with Lloyds of London, in terms of liability, has increased by 500% because domestic insurers based in Dublin are moving out of that market and we’re very dependent on the whole London market.

“Brexit is a huge concern” he said. “It will be a major English/Irish problem”. He noted that 50% of agricultural goods go from Ireland to England, and Ireland is the fifth most important export market of British goods.

Mr Dooley stated: “The business was set over up over 60 years ago by my dad Ned Dooley. He’s a little bit older than me - he’ll be 90 next year and he still has an involvement in the business”.

Founder of Dooley Insurance Group, Mr Ned Dooley (above) with Tim Dooley, MD Dooley Insurance Group

Dooley Insurance Group has, Mr Dooley said, grown to be in the top three percent of brokers in the country, with 10,000 customers.

“We’ve acquired over 10 brokers in the last 10 years and we’re proud of our success. We work hard for our clients, and that’s important. We are a one stop shop with health, life, investments - there’s no area that we don’t cover. 
“Many of our clients are with us for 50 or 60 years, and we’re very proud of it.”

Mr Dooley also thanks his family, wife Mary, and children Tadhg, Rebecca and Sophie (photographed below with John Bercow) for their support. He presented the former speaker with a purple passport.

“It’s made of Italian leather, handcrafted in Kilcullen, so it’s a true European passport, John,” he said as he made the presentation at the K Club.

Mr Bercow spoke at length about his role as speaker and his take on Brexit, which is, he said is, “Britain’s greatest foreign policy mistake since the Second World War”. He’s not impressed with it, and not impressed with the magical thinking that lead to it.

He addressed, in particular, the belief, as expressed by MP Liam Fox, that it would be the easiest trade deal in history.
“The average trade deal takes seven years to negotiate so the idea that we are any time soon going to get Brexit done is, in my judgment, for the birds. We will be debating Brexit in the UK in one form or another. Most certainly the next five years, in all probability for the next 10 years, and quite conceivably for the next 15 years,” he told the audience.

Returning to that theme later in his 40 minute speech, he remarked: “Quite what possessed Liam Fox, to think that it was going to be the easiest trade deal in history is something that I just cannot fathom.

“I like Liam personally, he has always been courteous to me and so on, but I cannot penetrate the inner recesses of his mind. I don’t know what made him think it would be easy.”

Mr Dooley told local media that he was extremely impressed with the Chamber's special guest.

“We spoke at length prior to the breakfast and I found him to be very articulate, a no nonsense talker. He truly feels that British politicians are neglecting the youth of Great Britain in their decision to leave the EU, it is a decision that will adversely affect future generations".