Emmet O'Reilly

Emmet O'Reilly

(opens in a new window)Emmet O'Reilly is an accountant by profession and has held a number of leadership roles in the property and finance sector. He is also the author of two books, Miss, Say Goodbye to Your Daughter and This Is Ourselves, Under Pressure. Emmet graduated from UCD with a BComm in 1993 and a Masters in Accounting in 1994, both with first-class honours.

What was your UCD experience like?

I'd just turned 17 as I walked through the doors of the Arts Block in 1990 and the change from school to college was challenging initially. However, once I settled in and made new friends, I looked forward to what each day would bring – some new learnings on the business front and, more importantly, what craic you could get up to in the Trap, the Bar or on a Commerce Day caper – performing Monty Python's "I'm a lumberjack" sketch in front of all three Commerce years was a particular highlight.

Outside of your academic studies, what was the most valuable lesson you learned at UCD?

I think I learnt a lot about who I was as a person and what sort of character I was becoming. I was naturally shy and I suppose those 4 years in UCD taught me to be comfortable in my own skin. I found a great tribe of friends from those formative years in college, whom I'm still close to 35 years on. The valuable lesson I learnt was that being yourself was just fine – everyone had their hidden insecurities and showing vulnerability was OK too.

Have you been back to campus since your graduation?

Not so much in the first two decades after graduation, but I'm around the campus a lot these days. I'm a member of the UCD gym and I also use the new athletics track at least once a week. I also mentor one student from the Quinn School of Business each year and my company participates in the internship process run by the school. I'm amazed at the transformational development that has occurred throughout Belfield since my days there and I'm slightly envious of the dedicated business school building compared with Theatre P in the Arts Block.

How do you successfully juggle two careers, as an accountant and an author?

With some difficulty and a lot of discipline. I do most of my writing at weekends. When in full flow on an initial draft or in the final throes of finishing a piece, I get up at 5am on Saturdays and Sundays – this gives me some quiet time to focus solely on my writing. Generally, I know what parts of the storyline I have to focus on for the coming weekend and I use any downtime during the week to decide how I'm going to portray a particular character of part of the plot – I can then hit the ground running each Saturday morning. It's not easy and never will be easy, but I don't tend to suffer from writer's block. If in doubt, I put something down on paper and then mark it for editing at a later date. To be honest, my writing is a pastime and I actually enjoy the craft of putting together a story. The one problem is that time flies by when in full drafting mode.

What do you enjoy most about each?

The common theme between my two books is societal change. In my lifetime, Ireland has undergone a significant transformation and I have a passion for creating characters and plot around those changes. I love the creative side of writing – it's like I have unlimited possibilities as to how a story might unfold. My day to day job as MD of a residential investment fund is all about relationship management, be it with our funders or with colleagues. I really enjoy the day to day interactions with various stakeholders in the business, but always with a keen eye on how our financial results are playing out. I've been fortunate to have a varied career across all aspects of real estate and it's vindicated my decision to do Commerce in UCD and then pursue an accountancy qualification after that. 

Did you always have ambitions to be a writer?

I sort of fell into writing. I was a C-student in English at the Leaving Cert level and I struggled with turning thoughts in my head into creative words on a page. That's probably why I pursued a career in finance and accounting, which places much greater emphasis on numbers. However, COVID gave me a bit more space and time to reflect on my late mother's passing a couple of years earlier and her life story evolved into my first book in 2022. I believe I've a simple story-telling writing style and people seem to enjoy the pace and rhythm of my words.

The idea for the second book came at me in 2023 and, once the idea hit me of telling the story of a fictional family in Dublin in the 1980s, I felt compelled to write it. This book was definitely more of a challenge, given fictional writing and accountants aren't natural bedfellows. However, I leant into my empathetic side when creating characters and bringing the reader through their struggles and insecurities.

Who has been your biggest influence in life?

It probably sounds a bit clichéd, but I'd have to say that my parents are my biggest influence. I witnessed life's struggles through their own challenges in the 1980s and I saw how my mum and dad persevered through it all. They not only survived, but self-actualised, to quote one of my learnings from studying Maslow's theories in First Commerce. My dad received a Masters in the mid-1980s. At the same time, my mum, as a mature student with no Leaving Cert, went on a journey of education in UCD, from which she achieved a degree in Psychology and two Masters degrees, finishing up just four months before I first walked through the doors of the Arts Block. They taught me that education is vital and attitude beats aptitude – hard work and bit of intellect can go a long way. Even to this day, I look on at my dad, now aged 82 years young, as a vital influence in my life. He's my greatest cheerleader and I'm beyond proud to be attending his conferring for a BA in History and English Literature next month – DCU this time, but maybe he'll do a PhD in UCD someday!

Why is mentorship important to you?

I've been blessed to have had superb informal mentors along my journey of education, work and life itself. The way those mentors have gently guided me has helped me immeasurably over the years. About 8 years ago, I asked someone from the Quinn School whether there was a formal mentoring process for young students and it so happened they were about to start a pilot project – I volunteered my services without hesitation. That mentorship programme is now going strong, with over 300 students benefitting from the process each year. It gives me an opportunity to hopefully pass on some pearls of wisdom to the next generation, much like how I benefited from that over the years with my mentors. By helping out, I hope that the students see a wider set of future opportunities and the belief to purse them vigorously later in life. As I said to someone once, being a mentor to 20-year-old students is like talking to your own children, except those students actually listen to what you say!

How important is your UCD alumni network to you?

Without a doubt, it's very important. It could be my close friends from that time, who are still a vital part of my life. It could be the classmates that you bump into socially and in business, with whom you have a connection for life. As with anyone over a 30+ year career, I've encountered speed bumps – my alumni network has always been there to be a sounding board and help guide me during those more challenging times.

Have you any words of advice for students who are starting their own UCD journey this year?

Three years ago, I wrote a piece for the Irish Times, which was a letter to my 17 year old self as I embarked on my UCD journey in 1990. In the piece, I told myself to maybe talk to another classmate, maybe have another pint in the Bar, maybe join another society. For sure, the educational part of the UCD journey is vital to position you for the first job out of college, but enjoy the journey as well. If you're having difficulties adjusting to college life, realise that pretty much everyone is going through the same feelings – some hide it better than others, but you're not on your own. If needs be, talk to someone in the faculty you're in – they're very approachable people and the chances are they felt the exact same when they were young and starting out in college.