HEAVY metal, it has been said, is music for people who think for themselves. This certainly proves the case with Limerick Chamber’s Chief Economist and Director of Policy, Seán Golden, who is as comfortable talking about financial markets and inflation as he is the “big four” — Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax, writes Limerick Post reporter Alan Jacques.
Finnish metal musician Tuomas Holopainen once described fans of the genre as smart people who possess a healthy dose of self-irony and a good sense of humour. This too rings true of Mr Golden, a regular at the bi-yearly Siege of Limerick metal festival in Dolan’s, and a man that could tell you a thing or two about fiscal policy and budget deficits.
It just so happens that Seán likes his music loud and his local economy booming. When he’s not moshing out to Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden, which is probably not as often as he would like these days, he is kept busy with his role in Limerick Chamber.
A former student of St Clement’s College, Golden joined the Chamber team in 2022 after working as an economist with the Land Development Agency.
He also previously held the position of senior economist with EY, where he provided economic consultancy services to a range of organisations across the public and private sector. Prior to that, he worked with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service, as well as spending several years in retail banking with Bank of Ireland.
Seán holds an MSc in Economic Analysis from the University of Limerick where he graduated top of his class and received the Northern Trust Outstanding Scholar Award. He also holds a BBS in Economic and Finance from UL.
Also active in the voluntary sector locally, he has worked with the European Expo 2020, Lean on Me, and MyMind.
The Rhebogue native also currently chairs the Chambers Ireland Urbanisation task-force.
A busy man with a penchant for amps up to 11, Seán Golden is down to earth, instantly likeable, carrying himself with a good-natured demeanour.
A former past pupil of St Clement’s myself, I try and dazzle Seán with one of the very few lessons that somehow stuck with me from my alma mater. I rattle off the definition of economics as taught to me by the late Bernie Doyle.
‘Economics is a social science that studies man as he seeks to satisfy unlimited wants with resources that are not only limited but have alternative uses.’ I was never the most studious, but for some reason this stayed with me.
“Fair play to you,” says Seán, clearly impressed, “because when I started studying economics, the definition I got was much more simple. It was really the study of scarce resources. What’s interesting is they took the human out.”
Understanding the history of things is important
Knowing little about economics after the definition of it, and Seán with his impressive CV, has me feeling a little out of my depth. I feel like the class daw rubbing shoulders with the school smart aleck.
But he tells me I have him pegged all wrong.
“I actually started off doing computer science and dropped out. My gaze was always on business. I went into computer systems but it was totally not for me. I knew it prior, but I started to give it a chance, and then then dropped out and went back into business studies. And then there was no holding me back.”
Limerick born and bred, the young heavy metal aficionado is passionate about his hometown and recalls memories from his formative years playing rugby and soccer and hanging out in the skatepark with his friends.He tells me how he always envisioned a future here.
“I think understanding the history of things is important, where things were previously, whether they’re moving, not moving, simply knowing where every rock on the street is – all these things help,” he says.
“When you’re passionate about Limerick, and you want to see Limerick excel, and you think we have buckets of potential, like everyone in the Chamber does, it is one of the best places to be to try drive that on. I think at the moment Limerick Chamber is a perfect fit for me.
“I love working in the Chamber because no two days are the same, really. And I know that’s a cliché in a lot of jobs. But, you know, for three months last year I was getting a gift card program up and running with the Council, and at the start of this year I was working on the next edition of Mid West Economic Insights. Every day brings something new. My worst nightmare is getting into a kind of humdrum of doing the same thing, day in day out.”
‘Definitely not a corporate thing’
The metalhead economist sees Limerick being in a good place right now with the jobs market holding its own, but points to housing as the key issue to ensure future employment.
“I think there’s a lot of good things standing out for Limerick and the wider Mid West. Employment is in a good space. We’ve never had as many people at work as we do now. We’ve never had the diversity of jobs that are available now,” he says.
“I remember when I finished college in 2014, if you didn’t do engineering or science, you had to leave. A lot of us went to Dublin, whereas now it’s slowly changing, and that’s one of the things I’d love to see long term, where if you want to stay in Limerick, you absolutely can build a solid career for yourself.”
Companies, he points out, are still looking to grow despite the record number in employment. They want to get more people in jobs, but those people have to be housed.
“If housing prices keep going up, employees are going to go to employers and continually look for salary increases. So that feeds into our competitiveness, our Irish competitiveness, regional competitiveness here,” he says.
“We’re lucky that Limerick is an easy city to get around and there’s lots of other options as well. Shannon Airport is only out the road, so we’re well connected to other Irish cities, but more needs to be done on housing. We all know there’s no silver bullet, but it’s time we make progress. I think if Limerick can overcome the housing issues, there will be no stopping us.”
Before I take my leave, I tell Seán that a little birdie told me he has a great love of all things heavy metal. He’s curious to know where I got this golden nugget of information, but is positively beaming as the conversation turns to Slipknot and Behemoth.
“It’s definitely not a corporate thing,” he acknowledges with a wry giggle.
“It’s funny though because every so often you will meet someone who shares that passion, because, look, even you shared that prejudice that ‘I would never have thought’. I remember a few years ago I went to a physio in Dublin and he was from County Galway and one day we got chatting and it turned out he was a huge metal fan. Myself, I started off loving Slipknot, which was a good entry point. I then got into the big four – Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax, and got into black metal from there.”
Do you know what, though. Maybe Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson was right when he once suggested that we’d be a lot better off if heavy metal bands ruled the world.
If they’re all like Limerick Chamber’s Seán Golden, he could just be right.
