The changemaker Aubrey McCarthy (Business Administration and Management, 1993) is a dedicated advocate for societal change. Join us as we step into his purpose-driven life, marked by compassion, leadership, and tireless dedication to creating a lasting impact I’m generally up by 7.30am to feed and water my Newfoundland rescue dog before leaving for the office. I live on the farm where I grew up, near Punchestown Racecourse. The farm is leased out, but I have my office on the land as well as my second business, The Elms, which is a café and home furniture store, a kind of mini-Avoca. I like to go there for breakfast: porridge with cream, blueberries, and honey, totally delicious! My main business is AMC Moving and Storage – it stands for Aubrey McCarthy. We do big corporate removal jobs like banks, hotels, and embassies. I’ve always been entrepreneurial – as a kid, I grew watercress to sell to Fergal Quinn, and as a Trinity undergraduate, I would go down to Ormond Quay in my old estate Volvo and buy antiques to bring back to campus to sell. That funded me through college. I’m generally on the road throughout the day. Typically, I’ll be meeting clients or doing surveys. Tiglin takes up a lot of time. In truth, I didn’t know what I was getting into when I set it up in 2008 but I have addiction in my family, and I always wanted to make a difference. When I volunteered with the Salvation Army, I noticed that people would come out of rehab programmes feeling great but would soon spiral back. So, I did my research and found a centre in Scotland with a nine-month, faith-based residency programme which had excellent results. I decided to model it in Ireland. I took out a mortgage to buy the former National Mountaineering Centre in Wicklow. I kept the name: Tiglin. We now have seven centres in Dublin and Wicklow, and on any one day, we have 200 people in residence and we’re feeding up to 500. Working with vulnerable people can be heart-breaking but also really inspiring. Three of our centres are managed by men who walked in off the streets a few years ago and are now doing Masters degrees. That’s amazing, but I don’t underestimate the challenge: when we began Tiglin, we were feeding between 30 and 80 daily. Now, we have queues down the street, and just between 7pm and 9pm in one café, we’ll be feeding around 300 people. I admit I get frustrated driving round the country, seeing the empty institutional buildings. We need much better strategic thinking. Advocacy is part of my role for Tiglin. I do a lot of media interviews on the phone from the car, and I use Tiglin cafés for meet-ups, whether The Lighthouse on Pearse Street, or All Rise near the Four Courts, or Rise at the Cove in Greystones. These cafés have great ambience and excellent baristas, and a mixed clientele. If I’m going to Greystones, I’ll have a swim in the sea, my favourite way to unwind. Midweek I might have dinner at The Lighthouse to enjoy the live music and chat. It’s great when Trinity people drop by. Trinity alumni are fantastically supportive of Tiglin and I was blown away to be given an Alumni Award in October. It means a lot to be recognised by the community. Wherever I am, I’ll always get back home to Kildare by midnight, and I’ll fall asleep the minute my head touches the pillow.
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