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Humans of Dublin
“I exited bankruptcy in July 2016 and was questioned on RTE news about what would now change. ‘Nothing’ I said and it was true at the time. If anything I was in a harder place than when the banks repossessed my home and my business collapsed six years ago. I was heart-broken and good for nothing. I wrote an article about homelessness in the Irish Times and the next day a friend offered me a cottage to rent. One year later it feels like home. My tiny cottage sits snugly in the hills overlooking the pretty village of Shillelagh. I have work in PR and as a freelance journalist. I pay my bills. I even go out to dinner on occasion. I have never been happier. My children live nearby and they are amazing young women. I get up each morning with gratitude in my heart. I have put the survival mode behind me and I am shining now. Every human being deserves to shine and this time is mine.” LINK
Continue readingMy Little Pony
Gianni Matera is a man who knows what he wants – three or four ponies would suit him very nicely thank you. Only he is not speaking of our four legged friends but of startups valued at between $10million and $100million. The term ‘pony’ was coined by US money man Dave McClure of 500startups fame back in 2015. Ponies grow up to be Centaurs, valued between $100million and $1billion and then a lucky few make it to the Unicorn stage of $1billion plus. Matera, an Italian entrepreneur successfully sold his last company, DigiTouch, in 2007 for €44million and decided to look for a life and career outside of Italy. He chose Ireland as his new home because of the ease with which he fitted into Irish society, the support of Enterprise Ireland (EI) and the close business connections to the US. For the past two years he has operated as a Super Angel Investor in Ireland through his fund Growing Capital. He has invested a total of €4.8 million in 14 startups of which €2.2 million came from his own personal wealth; €1.5 million came from EI (HPSU Fund) and the remaining €1.1 million from the European Angel […]
Continue readingAn Open Letter to Bray Wanderers FC
Dear Management of Bray Wanderers, I write to you today with genuine sadness, some bewilderment and above all deep embarrassment at your recent statements, press releases and actions. The final straw was discovering that I had been personally blocked from the official Bray Wanderers Twitter Account. That action has directly forced me into responding publicly today. Let me explain firstly who I am. I was taken on last year, in August 2016, as media liaisons officer for the club. Three years ago I had met with a Bray club think-tank headed up by prior chairman Philip Hannigan, and had submitted a proposal as a public relations consultant. Nothing came of that and so I was surprised to be approached last summer by the then chairman Denis O’Connor. We had many talks over the following weeks and finally I submitted a detailed brief of work and my services were retained. It was a steep learning curve. I was unfamiliar with the world of soccer in general and of League of Ireland in particular. However, I found myself falling head over heels in love with the club. I became a defacto Seagulls Supporter. I met fans, old and new. I worked with […]
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First Bonded Whiskey warehouse on Clare Farm
The lost art of whiskey bonding has been restored to Ireland once again after being neglected for almost a century. Clare-born Louise McGuane returned to the family farm after an international career in the drinks industry to set up a new bonded whiskey warehouse on the farm, on a site nestled between the Shannon Estuary and the Atlantic. This unique micro climate will be used to create a very special flavour of whiskey – the first bottles of which will be available in five years’ time. Louise has come full circle. She remembers growing up when the local creamery was still operational. ‘We bought the bulk milk tank down to the creamery using the tractor very day. I even remember the pails before that,’ she says. ‘Naturally, those are in the past but the community has retained its rural bearing.’ Now she is reviving another ancient tradition of bonding that had all but died out in Ireland. ‘Back in the last century many local grocers or pubs would also be bonded agents and blend or mature their own brands of whiskey. They bought the plain spirit off a main distiller and then matured it in casks for a number of […]
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Snail Success in Ireland
Eva Milka came to Ireland by accident in the middle of a tourism degree in her native Poland when her then boyfriend suggested she join him in a job interview for the newly opened Lyrath hotel in Kilkenny. She got the job while he did not, and so she cast aside her degree to work in Ireland much to her parent’s disappointment. ‘It just felt it was the right thing to do,’ says Eva. ‘ We moved over and settled into Ireland but the one delicacy we could not find was escargot snails – so we set up a mini breeding farm using plastic containers in our one bedroom apartment in Kilkenny.’ The love of snails only grew and now Eva is looking for other pioneering spirits to join her in the growing snail business. ‘Four years ago my partner and I decided to look at farming snails professionally,’ says Eva. ‘We took one year to conduct research and development, the second to set up our infrastructure and for the last two years we have streamlined snail production, found distributors and are now looking at value added products through a processing plant in Greece.’ ‘There are no facilities to do […]
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