Latvian minister on surprise visit to former employer in Rathcrogue

A LATVIAN government minister bidding to become his country’s next prime minister made a surprise return to the Rathcrogue business where he spent four summers working as a student.

Viktors Valainis, Latvia’s minister for economics, visited Doyle’s Tarmacadam recently where he met Sean, Shauna and Alan Doyle and reminisced about his time at the yard 20 years previously.

Mr Valainis led the Union of Greens and Farmers into Latvia’s general election on 3 October as the party’s candidate for prime minister.

“The place has not changed much and it brought back great memories,” he said. “The only thing that had changed is Shauna, because she was a young schoolgirl at the time.” Back then, Mr Valainis was a student at Riga Technical University who travelled to Ireland during his holidays, staying with his brother Valdis, who still lives and works in Carlow town. The money he earned at Doyle’s allowed him to support himself during the academic year and focus on his studies without having to find additional work.

But his time in Ireland gave him more than wages. It offered him experience of working life, the chance to meet people and, at weekends, to travel around the country, broadening his outlook and leaving him with memories he has carried ever since.

Sean Doyle, who runs the business with his brother Alan, remembers the young student well.

“He was always a quiet, mannerly young man. He wasn’t someone who rushed into conversation. He would weigh up the situation and think carefully before he gave his opinion,” he said.

Mr Valainis graduated from Riga Technical University with a bachelor’s degree in real estate management in 2009 and a master’s degree in construction entrepreneurship and real estate management in 2011. That same year, he was elected to the Saeima, Latvia’s parliament, where he served several terms. He became minister for economics in September 2023, a position he still holds.

A highlight of the visit was seeing Shauna Doyle again. When he first knew her, she was a young girl running around the family business. Today, she is the third generation of the Doyle family in the company, following her father Sean and uncle Alan, who took over from their father Seamus Doyle who founded the business in 1979.

Her progression into the leadership of the company is an achievement in itself in what has traditionally been a heavily male-dominated industry.

“Employees are one of the biggest concerns in the construction industry at the moment,” Shauna said.

During the visit, Mr Valainis also met Jamie Payne from Talbot Terrace and John Reid from Palatine, who worked alongside him all those summers ago and are still employed at Doyle’s today.

For a few hours in Rathcrogue, the titles and political responsibilities were put aside as the minister returned to the yard where his journey began.