The Isle of Man chapter of the British Irish Trade Alliance (BITA) held an event last May which has subsequently brought an Irish company to the island.

GalTipp Solutions already provides labour from selected locations around the world, in significant numbers, to companies in the UK and Ireland so it could potentially be able to help alleviate some of the island’s recruitment issues.

All this is in accordance with BITA’s stated aim, which is to ‘strengthen the island’s business connections with the British Isles, encourage collaboration locally, and promote the Isle of Man to visiting delegates as a place to do business’.

Jenny Thompson, a member of the BITA Isle of Man board, said: ‘We usually do two or three day events because, to get people over here, we need to get them to experience the island.

‘Last May we held a cheese and wine in the House of Manannan, a sustainability event in Port Erin, and then lunch with the chief minister and most of DfE attending.

‘That’s what the people who come across want.’

Another BITA board member, Brendan Kenny, said: ‘It’s all about getting to know people, building trust and building rapport.

‘We’ll typically have 50% of people coming from across, either Ireland or the UK, to an event and we place them strategically in the room so they get real value from the people they are sat with.’

It certainly impressed Liam O’Brien, who came over from Ireland for the event. Liam, who comes from Tipperary, and worked in public sector recruitment in Ireland for many years, founded GalTipp Solutions with Eddie Hall, who hails from Galway, hence the name.

Liam said: ‘I’d never been to the Isle of Man prior to last year’s trip, but I really took to it and the people here.

‘What I found amazing is that I could sit beside your chief minister at the function and talk to him freely. It’s that kind of access.’

Liam added that he ‘had no notion about coming to the island’ but the chief minister’s ‘commonsense approach’ won him over.

Brendan and Jenny have both become directors of GalTipp’s Isle of Man operation which recently completed all the necessary formalities to become licensed to operate on the island.

Brendan explained how GalTipp Solutions works. He said: ‘We’re not a recruitment company. We bring people in, and we manage the whole visa process. What we don’t do is move people around. We actually enhance recruitment companies on the Isle of Man because we’re bringing more people into the market. We solve a problem, which is the resource issue across the whole economy.’

GalTipp already has an impressive track record of bringing in foreign labour, typically from Mexico and Central America, to work in sectors including construction, healthcare and hospitality.

Liam said: ‘We started off doing it in the construction sector, which is probably the most challenging sector of all, and we’ve had great success. We have nearly 1,000 people on the ground now, in London and Ireland, and we are also on the supply chain for HS2.

‘They are all English speaking as their first language. We’ve found it a massive advantage in construction in the context of health and safety and giving instructions and directions.

‘We have proved that the model we’ve developed works.’

Liam said: ‘If you want context, if you want customers, BITA has it all. If you work within it, and work hard within it, they’ll bring you together. They won’t make it happen but they’ll allow you to make it happen.’