Paul Beddy OC’76

Paul Beddy attended Clongowes from 1970-76. After Clongowes he studied Commerce at night in the College of Commerce Rathmines while working in the family business. With a very young family, the family business closed in 1989 and Paul set up his own PPE manufacturing business with 10 ex-employees and money borrowed from friends. The Clongowes Benevolent Fund was of great assistance during that turbulent year. In 1999 with the demise of manufacturing in Ireland as the Celtic Tiger years approached, Paul transitioned his manufacturing operation from Ireland to Bardejov in western Slovakia where he set up a joint-venture with local people. In 2017 he began transitioning the manufacturing from Slovakia to Ukraine where there are now over 100 people employed between the 2 operations. Maintaining employment in Ukraine is a humanitarian priority for his company in this troubled time. Today his company is a principal PPE supplier to the largest Commercial Laundries in Ireland and the UK, who provide lease/rental options for garments to Food Industry, Pharma, Healthcare, and Catering Industries