BUSINESS AND civic leaders will put forward their proposals to tackle the impact of the recession at a conference later this week.

The Irish Management Institute is holding a national leadership forum on April 3rd, four days ahead of the emergency budget, at its conference centre in Sandyford, Co Dublin.

The institute said yesterday that the forum, its annual conference, will give business, political and civic leaders an opportunity to outline the measures they think are needed to get the country and its businesses back on track.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen will address the forum. Other contributors will include Vodafone chief executive, Charles Butterworth, Prof Ciarán O’Boyle of the Royal College of Surgeons, competitiveness council chairman, Don Thornhill and Dr Phil Nolan, chairman of the institute and former chief executive of Eircom.

“The objective of the day is to tease out practical ways of managing through the current recessionary period and to find a new equilibrium for the Irish economy in the medium to longer term,” the institute said yesterday.

Leading organisations through a crisis period will be a key theme for audience discussion, it added.

The institute’s chief executive, Dr Tom McCarthy, said it would act as a “think tank” for the whole country.

“The objective of the national leadership forum is to bring the best management brains in the country together in one place.

“This one-day intensive think-in will produce a series of practical measures and recommendations outlining the way forward,” he said.