Stick out your tongue, Mr Sipowicz

With so many Polish people now living in Ireland (over 63,000 according to the 2006 census), it’s hardly surprising that a number of Polish-orientated businesses have sprung up in Dublin and elsewhere in the country. Indeed, enough critical mass seems to have been reached that it looks like a major healthcare operator from Poland is poised to establish its first foreign franchise here, an experiment which will do doubt offer a prognosis on whether the concept could be expanded to the UK, where there’s an even greater number of Polish ex-pats busy making a living (around 150,000).

Maria Stenka, a 45-year-old Polish dentist working from Dublin’s Dorset Street appears set to spearhead the launch of the first Lux-Med clinic in Ireland, and it’s an interesting play. Of the entire Polish community living in Ireland, almost one-third, or over 19,600 of them, live in Dublin city and county, making the prospects for Polish-speaking doctors and dentists seem rosy. Lux-Med may sound like a package holiday firm, but it’s big business on its home turf (http://www.luxmed.pl/en/page.php?sid=97 ).

The company operates 17 clinics throughout Poland, offering state-of-the-art medical facilities, and undoubtedly the service doesn’t come cheap. Lux-Med even likes to boast how during the summer a 50-strong team of its doctors looked after Rolling Stones concert-goers in Warsaw. No mean feat, and no doubt added to the 50 who were surely looking after the crumbling band members.

Lux-Med was acquired earlier this year by London-headquartered private equity firm Mid Europa Partners, which will certainly want to inject growth hormones into the business before it undoubtedly sells it on in a few years’ time. Part of that growth now looks like it will come from franchises set to cater for a burgeoning ex-patriate population in cities such as Dublin.

http://www.cso.ie/census/census2006results/volume_4/vol_4_2006_complete.pdf