A Monaghan-based businessman has been named Ireland's Entrepreneur of the Year.

Mr Martin McVicar, managing director of Combilift Ltd, was selected as the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for 2001 from a shortlist of 24 business-people at a gala banquet that was attended by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, in Dublin yesterday.

Mr McVicar received the award in recognition of his success in establishing the company in March 1998 and producing the Combilift, the first engine-powered, fourway, all-wheel hydrostatically driven industrial forklift capable of operating both indoors and outdoors.

"Selecting one overall winner out of the shortlist of 24 was exceptionally difficult," said Mr Enda Kelly, partner-in-charge of entrepreneurial services at Ernst & Young.

"What set Martin apart was the sheer tenacity he showed in bringing a hugely innovative product to an international marketplace, where he managed to take on some of the largest engineering companies in the world and beat them at their own game."

Combilift employs 60 people in Clontribet, Co Monaghan. So far, the company has sold more than 750 forklifts through 36 dealerships in 24 countries.

It aims to capture more than 1 per cent of new forklift sales worldwide.

Finalists for this year's event, which was organised in conjunction with Citibank, Enterprise Ireland, The Irish Times and RT╔, were shortlisted into three separate categories: Emerging Entrepreneur, Technology Entrepreneur, and Industry Entrepreneur.

As well as clinching the overall award, Mr McVicar was also named Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year.

Mr McCreevy said it was only right that Ireland should celebrate its entrepreneurs. "Many people have good ideas but don't have the drive or determination to see that idea blossom.

"The entrepreneur combines such creativity with the self-belief and determination which allows that good idea to become reality," he said.

The Minister said it is not only the entrepreneurs who benefits from the risks they take.

"They share their success by creating employment and by increasing national exports, factors which raise the standard of living for all of us and keep our economy moving foward," he said.

The Technology Entrepreneur of the Year award was presented to Mr Michael Kelly of Fineos.

As founder and chief executive of the company, Mr Kelly foresaw the emerging demand within the financial services sector - which was experiencing unprecedented business, legislative and technological change - for a suite of enterprise products based on modern flexible software systems.

The Fineos system aims to enable banks and insurers to become customer-centric and, with their inherent flexibility, to ensure that old legacy administration systems are no longer an impediment to business strategy.

Mr Tom MacGuinness, managing director of Horseware Products Ltd, was named Industry Entrepreneur of the Year.

Horseware Products has developed an innovative range of horse blankets using proprietary design and materials. Its products sell in leading retail outlets worldwide.

Despite losing production facilities through fire and floods, Mr MacGuinness sustained and grew the business, while at the same time developing its products to what the judges described as a world-leading standard.

The Entrepreneur of the Year Awards is part of a series run by Ernst & Young across the world. All short-listed nominees automatically gain access to a European network of entrepreneurs with whom they can share experiences and discuss business development opportunities.

Previous winners of the award include Formula One team owner Mr Eddie Jordan (2000), Esat founder Mr Denis O'Brien (1998), and the creators of Riverdance, Mr John Colgan and Ms Moya Doherty (1999).

Mr McVicar will now represent Ireland at the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, which will take place in Monte Carlo in May 2002. Last year's Irish winner, Mr Jordan, went on to take the World Entrepreneur of the Year Award for global leadership.

The judging panel for this year's awards comprised: Mr Denis O'Brien, chairman; Ms Gillian Bowler, president of the Institute of Directors; Mr Patrick Campbell, director of Campbell Bewley Group; Mr Mark Ennis, chief executive of Boxmore International and chairman of CBI Northern Ireland; Mr Pat Maher, director of development at Enterprise Ireland; Mr Maurice Pratt, managing director of Tesco Ireland; and Ms Ann Shaw, chairwoman of the Northern Ireland division of the Institute of Directors.