Former Antrim Star Pat Dougan Uses His Midas Touch To Revive Mackie International Mackie International Limited, the precision engineering firm which literally straddles the peace line between Catholics and Protestants in Belfast, provided an early test of business confidence in Ulster's future when it was floated as a public company last September, only a week after the announcement of an IRA ceasefire. Mackie is one of Northern Ireland's best known companies, with it's headquarter sandwiched between the Catholic Falls Road and the Protestant Shankill Road. While 70% of the four hundred employees are Protestant, the company's Chief Executive Pat Dougan is a Catholic. Pat Dougan is the man who takes credit for overseeing Mackie International's return to the black. The company almost collapsed in 1991 when Lummas Industries, the American company which had brought it a year earlier, went into liquidation and left Makie with £41 _ million of debt. Dougan was recruited by the Government to revive the ailing company which has been resuscitated under the former Powerscreen International Chief Executive, recovering from pre-tax losses exceeding £3 million in 1990 to make £950,000 taxable profit in the first half of 1994. Energetic entrepreneur Pat Dougan is a former Antrim hurlers: "I felt we had a message to convey, a message that things have changed", he told Hogan Stand. Pat Dougan's gaelic football career began in earnest while he was a student at St. Malachy's in Belfast. Lining out a left full back on the Ulster Colleges team which included such names as Behan (County of Lough, All-Ireland winning team), MvIlroy and Mussen of Down, the McKnights of Armagh and McGinley and Breslin of Donegal, Pat garnered inter provincial colleges medals with Ulster I 1950 and '51. In 1953 Pat was centre half back on the only Queens University Belfast team to ever win the Fitzgibbon Cup hurling competition and in the same year he was a reserve in the Universities versus Rest of Ireland hurling team. For one who had to retire from the national code because of ligament damage at the tender age of 24, Pat Dougan enjoyed quite a prolific intercounty career. The stalwart Dunloy clubman represented his native county at all levels in both codes. In 1951 was an unforgettable year - Pat Dougan won an Ulster Minor hurling Championship that year and was also part of the Antrim side which defended Cavan on a scoreline of 1-7 to 2-3 in the Ulster Senior football Championship final. This was Pat's second Ulster football medal - the previous year he had helped the Saffron Minor footballers to a 1-9 to 1-1 replay victory over Armagh in the provincial final after both sides had finished the first game with 1-8 apiece. Pat Dougan was on the Antrim Senior football panel up until 1995. Ulster Championship glory in '51 the undoubted highlight. "I lined out at full back on that Ulster Championship team, which with the likes of Kevin Armstrong, Paddy O'Hara and Ray Beirne on board was hailed as one of the finest teams ever to come out of Antrim. We shouldn't have lost to Meath in the 1951 All-Ireland semi final. It was a very controversial game and they only beat us by a couple of points. Mattie McDonnell was the best player on the Meath team. We had beaten a very good Cavan side in the Ulster final that year and were somewhat unfortunate not to make the All-Ireland final". Recalls Pat who, despite the fact that football was always his main interest, was also on and off the Antrim hurling team for a number of years. Understandably, Pat Dougan lost heart a little after injury terminated his career and found it very difficult to even watch games. He started up the Sperrin Medals, sponcers of the Derry All-Ireland winning side of '93, from scratch and then sold out. He then became the principal friving force behind Powerscreen International, sponsors of the Tyrone Football team, from where he retired as Chief Executive after sixteen years service. Pat then went into retirement but was persuaded in 1992 by his friend Richard Needham, then Northern Ireland Minister, to come out of retirement and take over Makie. On his decision to come out of retirement he once said: "I saw a tremendous challenge: a company with a 100 per cent loyalist workforce in the middle of a Catholic area. It was an opportunity where the divide was being crossed to do something for those people". Pat Dougan won a Minor Championship medal with Dunloy but from there on in Loughgiel always got the better of him. "Dunloy is in an unusual position. East of Dunloy is all hurling, but the further you go into Antrim past Dunloy the football takes over. Dunloy only won it's first Senior football takes over. Dunloy only won it's first Senior county title a few years ago". As ever, the Antrim hurlers will be there or thereabouts in this year's Ulster Championship. The footballers however are a different story - but there is light at the end of the tunnel for them this year. A first round clash with Cavan at Breffni Park is an obstacle which could be overcome. Pat Dougan feels that there is something missing though. "I think the Sntrim football team has always been an enigma. I feel that the wrong people have been running it. We need a wider representation from the clubs as there is probably too much city influence on the county team. The dedication doesn't seem to be there either - I doubt whether they realise what it takes to win an All-Ireland". Dunloy will play Atherny at Clones in the All-Ireland club semi final in the third week of February. Does Pat fancy their chances? "They nearly slipped up against Lavey in the Ulster final, but I think they'll get through the semi final. There's a great depth of talent and family tradition in the team and they certainly have the potential to win an All-Ireland club title. In the O'Kanes, the McMullen and the Elliots they have real matchwinners. I'd be confident about their chances, but nervous about saying it!". Pat Dougan's credentials as a company Chief Executive are unquestionable. He is the proverbial Doctor Frankenstein who has brought Makie back from the dead. And his track record up until then - with Sperrin and Powerscreen International, the company which was floated after being chained by Dougan up until 1990, Pat now owns about £2 million worth of property and 140 acres of land. Nevertheless he insists that he is staying at Makie to "finish the job". Makie was founded in Belfast in the 1840s and by the time of World War II the company had developed into a world leader in the manufacture of process machinery for hard fitness such as flax, jute, hemp and sisal. The world's only manufacturer of jute machinery, Makie employed 8,000 people when it was making Stirling bombers during the Second World Ware and employed 5,000 at its peak in the 1950s. Times were difficult from there on as competition intensified and finances deteriorated. By the time the Makie family transferred control to an employee trust in the 1970s servicing the heavy debt burden was severely constraining both marketing and capital investment in new machinery. By the late 1980s it became clear that Makie could not survive unless it received a major injection of equity finance. Salvation seemed at hand when American cotton machinery manufacturer, Lummas Industries, took over but they soon filed for bankruptcy and Pat Dougan was called upon to save the sinking ship. Orders totally £9 million mean an increased workforce for west Belfast Group in 1995. The biggest order worth £5 million was won by the Group's textile division to supply markets in South Korea, Spain and Germany. Another £2 million in orders for linen machinery came from the Czech Republic and China. The recently established environmental division of Makie International also won £4 million of contracts for sludge and water treatment projects in Northern Ireland, Scotland and England. This division also recently won a £25 million contract with the Argentina Water Sanitation Authority. The whole Group has enjoyed a dramatic reversal of fortunes since 1991 when sales were around £6 million. In June 1994 half-year sales of £9 million were announced. Dunloy was voted Ulster Club of the Year for 1995. What is so special about the club? "There's a great club spirit. It's a very big strong club which is unique in that they had their own grounds back in my time as a player. There's a lot of tradition there. It's a very strong parish where up to fifty people attend an Irish class in the winter", explains Pat whose sisters Eithna and Kathleen both won All-Ireland medals with the great Antrim camogie outfit of the fifties. Whether it be at work or at play. Pat Dougan has always brought along great energy and enthusiasm. One could almost go as far as saying that the mythological figure Midas was the first person to possess the Pat Dougan touch! Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 3rd February, 1995 Tweet

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