Creating more than 100 full-time jobs on the Dingle Peninsula in the next five years is the goal of the Dingle Creativity and Innovation Hub: a new model to encourage enterprise in rural Ireland by harnessing the power of 1GB fibre broadband.

Established in 2017 by stakeholders including eir, Kerry County Council, Dingle Business Chamber, Údarás na Gaeltachta and Net Feasa, the community enterprise initiative provides facilities including private offices, co-working space and “hot desks” with high-speed connectivity to encourage entrepreneurs, artists and startups to return to rural Ireland.

“When I left school, it was never really a possibility to come back and work in Kerry unless you wanted to work in the tourism, farming or fishing industries and I think that’s all changed now,” says Deirdre de Bhailís, who was recently appointed business development executive, having spent most of her career in science and technology communication.

Facilities at The Hub include five offices that cost €300 to rent per month, dedicated desks at €180 per month and six hot desks, which can be rented for €20 a day. This fee includes 1GB dedicated fibre connection, hosted voice services and WiFi hotspots provided by eir, which Deirdre describes as a “complete game-changer” for the peninsula.

At present, hub users include Michael Griffin (Aestus Solutions), Barry Murray (online sports nutritionist), Peter Staunton (music), Deanna O’Connor (media consultant), Orla Coughlan (organisational leadership consultant), Áine Moynihan and Simon O Faoláin (An Lab/Plean Teanga), David Garner (renewable energy consultant) and Rory Moses McKeown, who works for the World Health Organisation (see case study). ESB Networks also have an office as part of a project to transition to a “Low-Carbon Town”: an initiative that will provide significant opportunities for companies providing energy services and products.

Other projects include a feasibility study looking at the redevelopment of the former Dingle Hospital and Workhouse as a multi-use community space, and long-term, the aim is to develop the hub as a centre for innovation and creativity in film/animation, music, Internet of Things and marine research.

But for now, Deirdre’s message is that The Dingle Hub is “open for business”

Call 066-915-0140 or visit www.dinglehub.com

Case study Delivering safe drinking water to Africa from a desk in Dingle

As a consultant for the WHO, Rory Moses McKeown supports vital work securing safe drinking water in the Asia-Pacific and African regions; but from his base in The Dingle Hub.

Originally from Dublin, Rory trained as a microbiologist before specialising in water quality and sanitation. He worked in this area after moving to Australia, but in 2015, he and his wife decided to return to Ireland after starting their family.

“We became citizens, but it was now or never if we were ever going to move home,” he explains.

“I’d managed to get some consultancy work remotely, which meant that we could live anywhere we wanted pretty much once we got back to Ireland.”

Rather than return to Dublin, the couple decided to relocate to the Dingle Peninsula. For the first two years, Rory worked from home, supporting WHO headquarters in Geneva with the delivery of safe drinking water programmes around the world.

Separating home and work life, however, was challenging, as was securing a reliable broadband connection. Last year, however, he moved to The Dingle Hub, and hasn’t looked back.

“You could set up meetings with four or five people in different time zones around the world, so you really have a small window to have that meeting in and you can’t afford to have connectivity issues during those calls, so that was probably the most significant aspect,” he says. “But also the social aspect of having a workspace.”

And even though Rory has to travel overseas for work occasionally, he does not see his rural location as an obstacle.

“The physical connections now through either Cork or Farranfore airport are improved significantly, so within a day or a day and half at most I can be where I need to be for work,” he says, adding that he would encourage other people to work remotely.

“We certainly haven’t looked back,” he concludes.

Sneem Digital Hub

The Sneem Digital Hub is a community enterprise initiative supported by the local community, Kerry County Council and South Kerry Development Partnership. The Sneem Digital Hub is encouraging companies to provide home/hub working opportunities based in Sneem and helping skilled people wishing to locate to Sneem to connect with potential employers who offer “work from home” jobs. The group has worked closely with the IDA, which has identified Sneem as one of two pilot locations for a home/hub working initiative. The centre is now nearing completion and is taking expressions of interest.

RDI Hub

This project is being developed by FEXCO, IT Tralee and supported by Kerry County Council. RDI Hub will develop a sustainable, pioneering world-class digital innovation hub and living lab ecosystem to forge new paths for economic growth and accelerated job creation and build on southwest regional strengths to establish its USP as a globally connected financial services, innovation enterprise and skills hotspot. The hub will be based at the former Liebig factory building in Killorglin and will nurture entrepreneurs, R&D and training in the financial technology sector.

Kerry Scitech

Kerry SciTech was established on a collaborative basis as a not-for-profit organisation in November 2016, with the primary aim of promoting and highlighting Kerry as a science and technology hotspot and allowing members to mutually benefit in the search for talent due to the pooling of resources and shared web portal to advertise science and technology jobs in the region. Currently there are over 20 member companies, including FEXCO, Aspen Grove and Dairymaster.