{"id":286878,"date":"2026-01-16T03:31:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T03:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/286878\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T03:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T03:31:07","slug":"limerick-woman-goes-from-a-summer-temp-to-chief-executive-of-countrys-top-telecoms-firm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/286878\/","title":{"rendered":"Limerick woman goes from a summer temp to chief executive of country\u2019s top telecoms firm"},"content":{"rendered":"

LISNAGRY woman Elaine Carey has come full circle in her telecommunications<\/a> career.<\/p>\n

In her early 20s, she started working for Esat Digifone as a summer temp in its offices in Plassey.<\/p>\n

Almost 30 years later, following a career which took her to the Caribbean and through senior corporate roles in Britain and Ireland, she is back \u2014 last year succeeding Robert Finnegan as only the second ever chief executive of Three Ireland.<\/p>\n

Now Ireland\u2019s largest mobile provider, Three traces its roots back to Esat Digifone, and Limerick remains at the heart of the business, where 368 people are employed in the company\u2019s contact centre.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0<\/strong>Gardai hunt down Limerick man after ferret was stolen during a burglary<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite an amazing experience. When I started all those years ago, to be walking back into basically the same contact centre as chief executive was quite a special moment. Never did I believe or have any understanding that it was something I could do, or had even thought about,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Carey was born and raised in Lisnagry \u2014 \u201con the back road to Castleconnell,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She attended Lisnagry National School before moving on to Laurel Hill Secondary School in the city centre.<\/p>\n

She had planned to leave Limerick to study at third level, but a family tragedy \u2014 the premature death of her father shortly after his retirement \u2014 saw her remain at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t meant to be. I couldn\u2019t leave my mum at the time. I was the only one at home. I have a brother and sister \u2014 there\u2019s eight years between me and my sister and 10 years to my brother, so I\u2019m the \u2018surprise\u2019 as I keep telling my mum,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Instead, she enrolled at HSI Business School on O\u2019Connell Avenue in the city, where she studied travel and tourism.<\/p>\n

A placement with Aer Lingus between first and second year proved formative, teaching lessons she still applies today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI applied to be a ground hostess for a season in Shannon. We did six weeks\u2019 training, and one full week was just about the brand \u2014 understanding what it meant from the moment you put on that uniform. You were the brand. That really stood to me,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

Ms Carey also worked in conference and banqueting at the former Ryan Hotel on the Ennis Road, before realising hospitality was not the right long-term fit.<\/p>\n

At 21, she decided to start again, returning to education at the former Limerick Institute of Technology, where she studied business and computing.<\/p>\n

It was there that her career in telecoms began.<\/p>\n

A friend suggested she apply for a job at Esat Digifone\u2019s new contact centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were looking for summer temps, so I thought I\u2019d do that. I came in and started in dealer commissions, and from then on I worked part-time with Esat Digifone all through college,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>‘His whole career is fuelled by his drug problem’: Limerick man receives 108th conviction<\/a><\/p>\n

She moved across the business, including a spell in the complaints department \u2014 an experience she describes as challenging but invaluable.<\/p>\n

\u201cA poisoned chalice, but my God, do you learn. Everything was in writing back then \u2014 there were barely emails. You had to build relationships and networks to get things done. It taught me the importance of having people around you and knowing how to solve problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2000, Esat founder Denis O\u2019Brien sold the business and used the proceeds to establish Digicel, launching a mobile network in Jamaica.<\/p>\n

At the time, the island had just one provider, with large sections of the population still without access to telecommunications.<\/p>\n

Ms Carey was front and centre in Digicel\u2019s early expansion \u2014 a period she describes as transformational.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn July 4, 2000, we got on a plane and went to Kingston. We spent 18 months in Jamaica, then moved on to St Lucia, Aruba and the Cayman Islands. My role was setting up the retail operations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Looking back nearly 25 years later, she recalls how turning on mobile masts \u2014 and connecting communities \u2014 was an emotional moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were giving people a lifeline. In parts of Jamaica, you might have been waiting five years for a landline. When we turned on sites, there would be applause. Suddenly people could contact relatives in the UK and the US. It felt like more than building a business \u2014 it felt like changing society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Living and working on site for five years took its toll, and in 2005 Ms Carey took a year out to travel solo.<\/p>\n

She describes it as a restorative experience before returning to the industry she loves.<\/p>\n

She joined Eir to help establish its ICT business, before moving to Three Ireland within 18 months, shortly after the company had begun running its Irish operations directly rather than from Britain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a call saying Three were looking for a head of retail and asking would I like to interview. The rest is history,\u201d she smiles.<\/p>\n

Ms Carey went on to hold a series of senior leadership positions across retail, commercial and shopping functions.<\/p>\n

She played a key role in the 2014 acquisition and integration of O2 Ireland into Three – providing her with the direct link back to where her telecoms career began.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t see Limerick as just a service centre. This is our second headquarters,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have finance, legal and regulatory, technology and HR teams here. We have two homes, and this is one of them. Being from Limerick, I can\u2019t help but be proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

rior to becoming chief executive, she served as chief commercial officer for Three across Britain and Ireland.<\/p>\n

She believes Ireland compares favourably when it comes to mobile infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could be in central London on a Saturday night and your phone won\u2019t work. In Ireland, we have excellent infrastructure, and that\u2019s come from sustained private investment,\u201d she said, adding that the telecoms industry does not always receive sufficient credit for that. Having started her own career on the front line, she said it has shaped her leadership philosophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a workforce that genuinely cares about what they do, that\u2019s where value is created. Don\u2019t ever underestimate what you do with your people. The people are our superpower.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LISNAGRY woman Elaine Carey has come full circle in her telecommunications career. In her early 20s, she started…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,7969,18,19,17,1844,143714],"class_list":{"0":"post-286878","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-castletroy","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-limerick","14":"tag-lisnagry"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115902669319692485","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}