{"id":307571,"date":"2026-02-20T07:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T07:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/307571\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T07:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T07:02:07","slug":"i-havent-been-to-ireland-for-years-all-the-things-i-knew-are-gone-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/307571\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I haven\u2019t been to Ireland for years. All the things I knew are gone\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI put on a tie for you, it\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve worn one in about two years,\u201d says a smartly dressed Michael Smurfit<\/a> as we sit down to chat aboard the Lady Ann Magee, a luxury yacht moored in Monaco that he calls home. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve come bearing a gift: a handsome trophy for Distinguished Leadership, which he has received as part of the eighth Irish Times Business Awards, run in association with Bank of Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m most grateful for this … it means a lot to me. At this age of my life it is very unexpected.\u201d<\/p>\n

The award is in recognition of decades of success as a businessman and entrepreneur. He is best remembered for building the Clonskeagh-based Smurfit packaging group into a major multinational enterprise. Ireland\u2019s first. <\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Smurfit on his yacht, the Lady Ann Magee, which is named after his mother. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

Smurfit Westrock<\/a>, as it is now known, is run by his son Tony Smurfit<\/a> and is the biggest player in its industry globally. <\/p>\n

But Smurfit snr has invested in many other businesses over the years, some of them with family connections. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve made far more money outside of Smurfits than I did in Smurfits, backing people. Denis O\u2019Brien, for example, Dermot Desmond, John Magnier. We were all in business together and doing things together.\u201d<\/p>\n

How much did he make? <\/p>\n

\u201cEnough,\u201d he says with a broad smile, as the yacht gently bobs in the water on the quayside near the train station in Monaco. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to catch me on that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Smurfit also brought the Ryder Cup to Ireland in 2006 at the K Club, which he sold in 2020<\/a>; and was a successful horse racing owner, including Vintage Crop, the Dermot Weld-trained horse that became the first European winner of the famed Melbourne Cup in Australia in 1993.<\/p>\n

He even made a run at trying to buy The Irish Times in the 1960s. At one point, the Smurfit group had extensive publishing interests here, including Business & Finance magazine, the Sunday World newspaper and the Woman\u2019s Way title. <\/p>\n

That bid didn\u2019t succeed and he says he later decided against buying the Independent media group, which instead was acquired by Tony O\u2019Reilly, who later bought the Sunday World from Smurfit.<\/p>\n

Back in the day, Smurfit group was also big in supplying newsprint to publishers. The businessman tells a story of being in New York one day in the 1990s and seeing a sign for an internet cafe. <\/p>\n

He went inside and asked what they did. \u201cThey said \u2018we rent out computers\u2019. I didn\u2019t use a computer. So I went to one of the young kids on the computer and he said he was reading the latest news. I said \u2018where are you getting the information from?\u2019 He said \u2018from the newspaper on the computer\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Smurfit has won the Distinguished Leadership award as part of the eighth Irish Times Business Awards. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very big in newsprint. We were providing the Los Angeles Times with 250,000 tonnes a year for newsprint alone. I was in London a couple of weeks later and saw a sign for an internet cafe and found the same thing. So I called an emergency board meeting at Smurfit on a Friday and said \u2018we\u2019re getting out of the newsprint business. The internet is going to destroy it\u2019. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe board were horrified, we were making 30 per cent [profit] on sales, it was our most profitable single line of business. I said there will be no profits in 10 years. It actually took 20 years for it to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuberculosis<\/p>\n

Born in Lancashire in England and educated in Ireland, Smurfit\u2019s entrepreneurial journey famously started in Peamount sanatorium, where he was treated for tuberculosis, which he says he contracted from doing shift work in the moist atmosphere of paper mills and which at the time was a killer disease. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was given six months to live,\u201d he says, adding that he started reading the Financial Times and Investors Chronicle while undergoing treatment. \u201cI would read about takeovers and that sparked my interest in business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smurfit hasn\u2019t been involved in the running of Smurfit Westrock, the packaging company founded by his father Jefferson Smurfit in Rathmines in the 1930s, which he helped make into a world leader over many decades at the helm, since 2007 when he stepped down as chairman.<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Smurfit’s home in Monte Carlo, his yacht the Lady Ann Magee. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

Looking back over his career, Smurfit cites the takeover of Container Corporation of America in the 1970s as his best deal. \u201cThat was the best financial deal. It moved Smurfit from the bottom of the second division [in the industry] to the bottom of the first division. And now we\u2019re top of the first division,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Will the Smurfit name always be over the door and will the New York-listed company always be headquartered in Ireland?<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to make that bet. At the moment, we\u2019re more an American company than a European company. Some time in the future somebody might decide to take the name down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Portfolio<\/p>\n

Smurfit will be 90 in August but still has a portfolio of investments and a variety of property interests. <\/p>\n

\u201cI employ about 40 people personally. I\u2019ve different properties in Spain, in Monaco and so on, which all require looking after and paying bills for water and electricity. I\u2019ve 12 people on the boat looking after me and I\u2019ve a full-time chef. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great retirement. If I didn\u2019t have the boat, I wouldn\u2019t have known what to do with my retirement,\u201d he says, adding that up to about two years ago he used to take it across the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

He puts his longevity down to a strict daily routine of exercise during his working life. \u201cThe most important thing to me was my health. At 5pm, no matter what I was doing I would go for a long walk to keep fit. All my life. No matter where I was. That fitness has kept me alive. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been very lucky. My health has held up reasonably well. My back is giving me an inability to walk and exercise now the way I used to, so I\u2019ve had to cut back on my food and my drink. <\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Smurfit: ‘We always founds ways to innovate.’ Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

\u201cOther than that, the brain is working okay. All my friends are gone, I\u2019ve one left but he\u2019s got Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t travel very much any more. I haven\u2019t been to Ireland for a few years. All the things I knew are gone, the K Club I sold, Shanahan\u2019s on the Green, my favourite restaurant, is no longer open and I don\u2019t recognise it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A family celebration for his milestone birthday is planned for Monaco. But with his 90th birthday just six months away, does he think about death? <\/p>\n

\u201cMore than I like to. The next generation beneath me, they are beginning to pop off. Not many but starting to. They\u2019re in their 70s and some of them are not in great shape.\u201d <\/p>\n

Legacy<\/p>\n

In terms of his legacy, Smurfit says he\u2019d like to be remembered for building a business with high ethics, worldwide renown and one that was the best in its industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe box industry is not a very sexy business. But I just wanted to make sure that we made better brown boxes than anyone else, and we did. Along the way we became the biggest. We never set out to be the biggest, we wanted to be the best. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0A 2020 interview with Michael Smurfit: \u2018I asked Trump to invite me to the White House for my 80th birthday\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we always founds ways to innovate. The upside was that it wasn\u2019t an easy business to get into so to some extent we had it to ourselves. We made many mistakes along the way but we were the best. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe business is now run by my son Tony, it\u2019s nearly 100,000 people, operating in 45 countries with a turnover of $30-plus billion and Ebitda of $5 billion-plus. From small, humble beginnings in Dublin, one simple factory that my father started, my legacy is the name of the company, well known and well respected and long may that continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Smurfit on… The changes he has witnessed in Ireland over the decades<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ireland I grew up in was totally different to the Ireland of today. It was an Ireland of emigration and poverty. I\u2019ve seen a transformation both in politics and in business beyond my wildest imagination. Ireland is now home to many very successful companies and individuals. In my day there were probably less than a handful who were successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow Irish entrepreneur Tony O\u2019Reilly<\/p>\n

\u201cHe tried to be the master of the universe. He was running Fitzwilton, he was running Heinz and he was on the boards of a few companies. He controlled Independent Newspapers, Atlantic Resources, he had so many irons in the fire. I begged him to concentrate his efforts into a few successful ventures instead of a whole lot of ventures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donald Trump<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the second person to buy an apartment in Trump Tower [in New York] back in the 1970s. I was on the 61st floor and he was on the 64th floor. I would have dinner with him on a regular basis. He came to some of my functions and I supported the Irish chamber of commerce in New York and he would come in to events. He was a character. Totally untrustworthy, even back then. Sold the apartment five years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

On former taoiseach Charlie Haughey<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory will be kind to Charlie Haughey. He did a lot of good for Ireland. He was obviously a flawed man but we\u2019re all flawed.\u201d <\/p>\n

The current state of Irish politics…<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are too many political parties in Ireland and people are spoilt for choice and the end result is that you end up with wishy-washy politics. I haven\u2019t seen a dominant personality in Irish politics for years. It\u2019s all about consensus.\u201d <\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest plus is in the pharmaceutical area, the biggest negative in the manufacturing area. If it takes 10 years to develop a drug, maybe AI can do it in five years or three years. The chance to cure cancers is on the horizon. But it has a danger to it, too, if it becomes able to outthink us. That\u2019s scary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being a workaholic<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the original workaholic but I loved it. I worked seven days a week and every 13 weeks I\u2019d take a break for five days. I used to send my suits to five different locations so I didn\u2019t have to carry them with me. When the wind is behind you, go for it. I had enormous self-confidence.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI put on a tie for you, it\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve worn one in about two years,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7517,61,60,2160,79054,43,144640,70479,144641],"class_list":{"0":"post-307571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-denis-obrien","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-k-club","12":"tag-michael-smurfit","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-smurfit-westrock","15":"tag-tony-o-reilly","16":"tag-tony-smurfit"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}