Declan Buggy is on a mission to teach the public DIY skills to do jobs in their own homes and to show young people that a trade can be every bit as valuable as a college degree.
What started as a one-man renovation business in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, has evolved into a growing operation offering adult DIY courses, women’s only courses, school workshops, and kids’ camps across the country.
Along the way, Declan has amassed a sizeable social media presence with 23,000 followers on Instagram
(@the_irish_school_of_diy) which has helped him build a successful business in just six months.
Declan saw a gap in the market and pushed himself outside of his comfort zone, giving classes and courses.
After leaving school, he spent two years as an apprentice farrier. However, the physically demanding work of shoeing horses came at a cost.
“My back was very sore, and I knew there was something wrong.
“I have two bulging discs and two trapped nerves in my lower back. And it turned out I have scoliosis in my upper back,” explains Declan.
He had moved to Wexford for his apprenticeship, and once Declan got the diagnosis, he decided to change tack.
The Kilkenny native started making hurleys and then furniture or fixing pieces, a skill that runs in the family.
His late grandfather ran a furniture business in Wexford – Louny’s Furniture, across from Treasure Trove in Castlebridge – and Declan grew up surrounded by tools and timber.
“I was making furniture from the age of 16 at home. My granddad had a furniture business.
“I just took all his tools and taught myself how to do stuff.”
The real turning point came when Declan took on a maintenance role in a Thomastown property. Initially, he saw it as a safety net.
“I thought, worst comes to worst, I can still get €400 a week. I’ll manage off that. I ended up working on four or five housing estates,” he says.
That led to more opportunities through local auctioneers – helped by a family connection: his father is auctioneer Tommy Buggy in Portlaoise, and his uncle runs John Buggy Property in Kilkenny city.
“Any time a house was to be rented or anything like that, I’d just go down and do the jobs that needed to be done,” he says.
By Christmas of 2022, Declan decided to formalise things. He set up an Instagram page for his renovation work, and his reputation spread quickly.
He found himself doing everything from spraying and painting to making bespoke furniture and rental-ready fit-outs.
Declan Buggy, founder of the Irish School of DIY, Castlecomber Co Kilkenny. \ Patrick Browne
A lightbulb moment
Declan noticed the same pattern: people were paying good money for simple jobs. The real lightbulb moment came from something deceptively simple: fire alarms.
He recalls a day when he spent a day and a half driving between about 15 different houses, installing three or four smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in each home.
“This is the handiest thing in the world,” he says.
“You charge a call-out fee of like €90, plus your €20 to hang up each alarm. It’s two screws. And I’m like, what am I doing? How do people not know how to do this?”
That frustration planted the seed for the Irish School of DIY – a business built on the idea that basic home maintenance shouldn’t be a mystery and people should feel confident and have the skills to do simple tasks on their own.
Declan had already done some coaching with his GAA club, going into primary schools to promote hurling and football. That experience gave him the confidence to stand in front of a classroom.
He combined that skill with his trade knowledge and designed hands-on workshops for schools, teenagers, and adults. The goal is twofold: to teach practical DIY skills and to open students’ eyes to the earning potential and real opportunities in the trades.
“We go in and say to them: if the curtain falls off the wall at home and Paddy from down the road comes up, he puts two screws in the wall and drives off again. Five minutes. How much does that cost?” he costs.
“When you tell them it’s €90 to €100 for a call-out fee, they nearly die,” says Declan.
In many classrooms, the reaction when Declan asks, ‘Is anyone interested in doing a trade?’, one or two hands might go up.
“In one school in Greystones, of over 150 students, not a single hand went up.”
Declan Buggy, founder of the Irish School of DIY, Castlecomber Co Kilkenny. \ Patrick Browne
For Declan, that’s not because trades aren’t appealing, but because they’re not being talked about – even in schools linked to agriculture or offering practical subjects.
“I had no interest in going to school. I would go into work at a joinery.”
Declan currently runs school workshops (typically half-day or full-day sessions), adult courses (Saturday sessions) and kids camps during midterm, Easter and summer. He and his team arrive with a van full of tools and materials.
“We bring everything, and teach them how to wire plug sockets, how to hang stuff on a wall and do a bit of basic plumbing,” he says.
At the start of any class, many participants are shy and nervous around tools.
“By the end, they’re taking group photos with the bench they’ve built and asking where they can buy their own drills,” says Declan, with a smile.
What started out as a solo operation is now creating jobs with one full-time employer and a part-time worker who works remotely and looks after the admin and communication.
To get the courses off the ground, Declan got support from his Local Enterprise Office (LEO), which he says helped him significantly.
“I had a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with Una Ryan, and it was the best meeting I’ve ever had.
“The amount of information and knowledge she gave me was substantial. She told me to put up a video and go for it. That video [introducing the business] got a quarter of a million views,” he says.
He now uses social media to promote his courses and has a growing following of 23,000 followers on Instagram.
Declan believes he now has a model that works for him. However, it was a learning curve, he admits, because in the beginning his early course schedules had him driving the length and breadth of the country on consecutive weekends. This included late nights and early starts between Gorey, Kilkenny, and Cavan.
He now places greater emphasis on
geography when planning courses and camps.
“There is a gap in knowledge and confidence when it comes to DIY and working with tools.
“We try to have a bit of fun with it. We have people using power tools and then they go home and send me messages of them hanging stuff on the wall, which is deadly,” says Declan.
His dream is to be able to franchise the business and have different people based in different locations.
See theirishschoolofdiy.ie
Declan Buggy is on a mission to teach the public DIY skills to do jobs in their own homes and to show young people that a trade can be every bit as valuable as a college degree.
What started as a one-man renovation business in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, has evolved into a growing operation offering adult DIY courses, women’s only courses, school workshops, and kids’ camps across the country.
Along the way, Declan has amassed a sizeable social media presence with 23,000 followers on Instagram
(@the_irish_school_of_diy) which has helped him build a successful business in just six months.
Declan saw a gap in the market and pushed himself outside of his comfort zone, giving classes and courses.
After leaving school, he spent two years as an apprentice farrier. However, the physically demanding work of shoeing horses came at a cost.
“My back was very sore, and I knew there was something wrong.
“I have two bulging discs and two trapped nerves in my lower back. And it turned out I have scoliosis in my upper back,” explains Declan.
He had moved to Wexford for his apprenticeship, and once Declan got the diagnosis, he decided to change tack.
The Kilkenny native started making hurleys and then furniture or fixing pieces, a skill that runs in the family.
His late grandfather ran a furniture business in Wexford – Louny’s Furniture, across from Treasure Trove in Castlebridge – and Declan grew up surrounded by tools and timber.
“I was making furniture from the age of 16 at home. My granddad had a furniture business.
“I just took all his tools and taught myself how to do stuff.”
The real turning point came when Declan took on a maintenance role in a Thomastown property. Initially, he saw it as a safety net.
“I thought, worst comes to worst, I can still get €400 a week. I’ll manage off that. I ended up working on four or five housing estates,” he says.
That led to more opportunities through local auctioneers – helped by a family connection: his father is auctioneer Tommy Buggy in Portlaoise, and his uncle runs John Buggy Property in Kilkenny city.
“Any time a house was to be rented or anything like that, I’d just go down and do the jobs that needed to be done,” he says.
By Christmas of 2022, Declan decided to formalise things. He set up an Instagram page for his renovation work, and his reputation spread quickly.
He found himself doing everything from spraying and painting to making bespoke furniture and rental-ready fit-outs.
Declan Buggy, founder of the Irish School of DIY, Castlecomber Co Kilkenny. \ Patrick Browne
A lightbulb moment
Declan noticed the same pattern: people were paying good money for simple jobs. The real lightbulb moment came from something deceptively simple: fire alarms.
He recalls a day when he spent a day and a half driving between about 15 different houses, installing three or four smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in each home.
“This is the handiest thing in the world,” he says.
“You charge a call-out fee of like €90, plus your €20 to hang up each alarm. It’s two screws. And I’m like, what am I doing? How do people not know how to do this?”
That frustration planted the seed for the Irish School of DIY – a business built on the idea that basic home maintenance shouldn’t be a mystery and people should feel confident and have the skills to do simple tasks on their own.
Declan had already done some coaching with his GAA club, going into primary schools to promote hurling and football. That experience gave him the confidence to stand in front of a classroom.
He combined that skill with his trade knowledge and designed hands-on workshops for schools, teenagers, and adults. The goal is twofold: to teach practical DIY skills and to open students’ eyes to the earning potential and real opportunities in the trades.
“We go in and say to them: if the curtain falls off the wall at home and Paddy from down the road comes up, he puts two screws in the wall and drives off again. Five minutes. How much does that cost?” he costs.
“When you tell them it’s €90 to €100 for a call-out fee, they nearly die,” says Declan.
In many classrooms, the reaction when Declan asks, ‘Is anyone interested in doing a trade?’, one or two hands might go up.
“In one school in Greystones, of over 150 students, not a single hand went up.”
Declan Buggy, founder of the Irish School of DIY, Castlecomber Co Kilkenny. \ Patrick Browne
For Declan, that’s not because trades aren’t appealing, but because they’re not being talked about – even in schools linked to agriculture or offering practical subjects.
“I had no interest in going to school. I would go into work at a joinery.”
Declan currently runs school workshops (typically half-day or full-day sessions), adult courses (Saturday sessions) and kids camps during midterm, Easter and summer. He and his team arrive with a van full of tools and materials.
“We bring everything, and teach them how to wire plug sockets, how to hang stuff on a wall and do a bit of basic plumbing,” he says.
At the start of any class, many participants are shy and nervous around tools.
“By the end, they’re taking group photos with the bench they’ve built and asking where they can buy their own drills,” says Declan, with a smile.
What started out as a solo operation is now creating jobs with one full-time employer and a part-time worker who works remotely and looks after the admin and communication.
To get the courses off the ground, Declan got support from his Local Enterprise Office (LEO), which he says helped him significantly.
“I had a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with Una Ryan, and it was the best meeting I’ve ever had.
“The amount of information and knowledge she gave me was substantial. She told me to put up a video and go for it. That video [introducing the business] got a quarter of a million views,” he says.
He now uses social media to promote his courses and has a growing following of 23,000 followers on Instagram.
Declan believes he now has a model that works for him. However, it was a learning curve, he admits, because in the beginning his early course schedules had him driving the length and breadth of the country on consecutive weekends. This included late nights and early starts between Gorey, Kilkenny, and Cavan.
He now places greater emphasis on
geography when planning courses and camps.
“There is a gap in knowledge and confidence when it comes to DIY and working with tools.
“We try to have a bit of fun with it. We have people using power tools and then they go home and send me messages of them hanging stuff on the wall, which is deadly,” says Declan.
His dream is to be able to franchise the business and have different people based in different locations.
See theirishschoolofdiy.ie
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