TheCity

Author: Daniel Quinn

  • What will Ireland be like in 10 years?

    What will Ireland be like in 10 years?

    A survey has revealed what Irish workers and job seekers believe working in Ireland will be like ten years from now.

    The survey, which was conducted by IrishJobs.ie, gauged the views of over 2,500 Irish workers and found that 71pc are optimistic for the future, saying the economy will be better in 2025.

    According to the survey, 40pc of people believed that they would not be working in the same industry in ten years time.

    The survey shows 57pc believe Dublin city centre will be a car free zone. While two in five believe that we will be working less hours, and 85pc believed that working from home will be a more common practice.

    Interestingly, 46pc of people surveyed believe that they will be working in a job that currently doesn’t even exist, and Orla Moran of IrishJobs.ie spoke on that fact saying, “What really shines through is that change and adaptability are now part and parcel of modern Irish working life with over 40pc telling us they won’t be in the same industry in 10 years time and almost half of respondents telling us they could be doing a job in 2025 that doesn’t currently exist.”

    The survey, which was conducted to mark the company’s 20th year in business, served as a follow up to their 2005 survey which showed that a majority believed that Ireland would continue on a path of economic growth (55pc) and four out of five expected that their career patch would change over the next decade.

    Approximately 70pc predicted that Irish roads would still be over-flowing with traffic in 2015 and 55pc said that Sinn Féin would be in government.

    With most of us now getting our news from online sources, will we still be able to buy a hard copy newspaper in 2025? Yes is the answer, with 65pc certain that this will be the case.

    Other findings from the survey say that 24pc claim that they will be replaced by a robot in ten years, Paul O’Connell will be president, and Galway will have the highest quality of life in Ireland.

  • It’s the story that really matters

    It’s the story that really matters

    Apollo Entertainment is a recent start-up entertainment company based in Dublin, which can attribute its name and brand to such shows as ‘Wake to Wake’ on Setanta Sports, and its follow-up TV series ‘Off the DOC’. We caught up with CEO/Producer Jonny MacCann.

    MacCann (23) began by explaining why he decided to set up the company. “I started Apollo Entertainment because I wanted to tell stories and entertain people, my way,” he said. “I’m mad into sports and love TV, so I found a way of combining the two.”

    With the company only just over a year old, it has made great strides in the industry already with wake-boarding documentary ‘Wake to Wake’ being featured on Setanta Sports and their cooking show ‘The Little Green Spoon’ amassing a wide online following. They are also creating content with popular Dublin based website ‘Publin’ and have more shows in the pipeline.

    “We’re only one year old, so it’s still early days, but the company has been growing constantly. Apollo Entertainment has now created TV content for RTÉ, TV3 and Setanta Sports, so it’s all go,” he said.

    “My next step is to finish this TV series ‘Off The DOC’, which is a wake-boarding reality series for Setanta Sports – it’s due to air the end of this year,” he said.

    “After that we’ve a couple of projects in development both for TV and online. The two online series that I produce that are really going strong at the moment are ‘The Little Green Spoon’ and ‘Publin’. They’re two projects I’m very proud of,” he added.

    With so many projects under the company’s belt so far, we asked what’s next for one of Dublin’s brightest media start-ups.

    “The next step for me personally? I don’t really know, because my company and I are one and the same. So I guess it’s just keeping on the way I’ve been going.” Well it seems to be a formula that has worked so far.

    He finished with a solid piece of advice for anyone looking to start out in producing and editing videos.

    “Go out and film something,” he said. “Cameras are so accessible and affordable now that you can film a short film on your phone. Just remember the important thing is not what you use to tell your story, it’s the story itself that really matters.

    “People will forgive poor quality or shaky video if the story and context is there. Don’t believe me? Nike’s most viewed commercial was shot on a $200 ‘point and shoot’ camera, so go out and tell a story you’d want to hear.”

    For more from Apollo, you can visit their website here.

  • Chef shortages leading to restaurant closures

    Chef shortages leading to restaurant closures

    A shortage of chefs will result in the closure of restaurants, according to the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI).

    The RAI says that 5,000 chefs are required by 2016 to fill the thousands of vacancies in the industry.

    The RAI is calling for the re-establishment of ‘CERT’, which is a former State Training Agency for Tourism in Ireland, in order to train chefs to fill these jobs.

    According to the RAI, it has gotten to the stage where some restaurants now face closure, let alone being able to stay open for 7 days.

    “Restaurants are closing midweek now,” said RAI CEO Adrian Cummins. “Usually on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, because they can’t have a 7 day operation, due to not having a chef.

    “They might have a head chef, but they mightn’t have enough chefs to keep it going for the rest of the week. Because of this … you’re talking about 5% of all restaurants currently closing because of that reason across the country.”

    Cummins believes that CERT should be re-established, yet at the moment there is no talk to suggest it will happen.

    “We believe that bringing back CERT is the right thing to do, and at the moment the ball is in her [Minister of Education Jan O’Sullivan’s] court,” he said.

    “We would be advocating that she would, and we will be doing everything in our power to work with her to do that.”

    When asked if it was an issue concerning wages, Cummins replied: “It’s not an issue of wages at all, it’s because chefs aren’t training enough.”

    Conor Roban is currently Kitchen Manager in Boojum, Dublin (Millennium Walkway).

    “Cases of people getting paid €450 to work 70 hours and more a week are common,” Roban said.

    As someone who deals with staff in restaurants, Roban explained that, “A stressful environment results in a large turnover of staff and so a lot of people will head off to other countries where they know they will be paid a real wage as a skilled workforce.

    “I think people being under paid feel under-valued,” he added.

    Many people applying for the positions currently are deemed not to be appropriately qualified and this reflects the fact that there is not enough chef training centers, according to the RAI.

    Currently 1,800 chefs qualify each year from certified culinary training programmes.

  • The rise of American Football in Dublin

    The rise of American Football in Dublin

    American Football has been growing in popularity in Ireland for the last few years, with around thirty teams taking part in competition around the country.

    The main competition, the Irish American Football League (IAFL) sees the top teams during the year competing against each other to land a spot in March’s culmination – the Shamrock Bowl.

    We caught up with one of the teams in the IAFL at the moment, University College Dublin (UCD), as they outline why the sport has grown so much and whether it will continue to do so.

    Photo: Eierschneider/ Flickr

  • The #HaveACuppa campaign from Daisyhouse

    The #HaveACuppa campaign from Daisyhouse

    Dublin Homeless Women’s Charity Daisyhouse launched their #HaveACuppa campaign this week in House on Leeson Street. The association announced the initiative, which will run from the 1st-7th of November, alongside their Ambassador, RTÉ broadcaster Claire Byrne.

    The association are encouraging companies, schools, community groups, as well as the general public to hold their own events in order to help raise much needed funding to support women in breaking the cycle of homelessness.

    Speaking at the event, Daisyhouse CEO Orla Gilroy said: “We help a real mixture of women, women from all over the country and all over the world. We have women who have been trafficked into the country, the youngest would be about 18, the eldest would probably be late 50’s. Nearly all of these women have been through domestic violence, and nearly all have been sexually abused.”

    She continued: “They are incredible women, they really are fighters. They have fought to survive and to stay alive, and our job is to continue to fight with them to help them get to where they want to go.”

    Speaking at the event, association ambassador Claire Byrne also said: “What Daisyhouse does is it selects women who fit their criteria who are willing to work with them and help them to live again. What I saw at Daisyhouse was people rebuilding their lives.

    “Daisyhouse gets no government funding, not one penny. Daisyhouse has a couple of months left in the bank, and that’s why we’re here. We’re here to raise awareness, funding and to keep this fantastic project going.”

    For more from the event, and to hear more from CEO Orla Gilroy, watch below.

  • Communities gear up for Halloween in the city

    Communities gear up for Halloween in the city

    With Halloween only a few more sleeps away, there’s plenty of local initiatives happening around the city area.

    Drimnagh castle will play host to a haunted house for the occasion, from 5-9pm on the October 29.

    St. Catherines Church and Graveyard is hosting a “Get your spook on – Halloween Extravaganza” family fun day on October 30, from 2.30-4.30pm, while a “Ghost Bus” will be touring around Ballyfermot, Cherry Orchard and Kilmainham on the October 28.

    The Fountain Youth Group will be taking their Halloween trip all the way to Cavan for the weekend.

    For the kids, starting from October 27 and running until the night before Halloween, there are workshops that will be taking place in several schools across the inner city, from Warrenmount to St. Brigids.

    There will also be Halloween camps for kids open to all boys and girls aged 4-13 running from Ovt 27-30  in the Bluebell Community Centre.

    On Halloween night itself there is also plenty happening within the area, with the “Cauldron of Smithfield”.  A collaboration between the local community, Dublin City Council and the folks at ‘happenings.ie’ will be taking over Smithfield Square for a monster bash, with activities and entertainment for all ages

    Here are just some of the thrilling things you can expect at this year’s Cauldron of Smithfield.

    ‘Nightmare On Coke Lane’ –  take a terrifying walk through a Haunted House at the end of the lane.

    The area will have local entertainers, magicians, sword swallowers, dancers, DJs, a circus sideshow and a zip-line.

    There will also be a giant inflatable dragon which will double up as an obstacle course and slide too.

  • Heuston Station holding firm on bicycle policy

    Heuston Station holding firm on bicycle policy

    Heuston Station have warned customers that a peak-time bicycle policy, restricting access to trains for bikes, is going to be fully enforced.

    Iarnród Éireann have implemented a programme “to ensure strict application of existing bicycle policies at peak times, in order to ensure safety and following customer feedback”.

    Iarnród Éireann have since advised that bicycles will not be permitted on services arriving into Heuston station from 7 to 9am or services departing from Heuston station from 4 to 7pm from Monday to Friday “unless the bicycle is booked on intercity services in advance online”.

    Conal Mahon is a student living in Portarlington who commutes to Heuston in order to get to college in Dublin. He uses his bike to cycle from the station to Trinity.

    He said: “They’ve always said not to do it really, but now it’s going to be enforced. I’ve never really felt comfortable bringing it [the bike] on anyway because people would look at you, realising you’re taking away any space they have. It’ll be tougher getting into college anyway, I’ll just have to get up earlier I suppose.”

    However, coinciding with this, reservations for bicycle spaces on intercity services will now be free with tickets or reservations that are booked online. Previously, this set people back €6 every time they wanted to bring a bike on board.

    A spokesman for Iarnród Éireann said: “We have done this in response to consistent feedback from customers. We are providing greater clarity on the carriage of bicycles for the benefit of cyclists and non-cyclists alike.

    “Our customers had complained that cyclists who had not been observing our peak restrictions were reducing capacity on peak services in and out, as well as blocking the safe entrance and exit of trains, and stopping movement within carriages. This policy will be strictly enforced from Monday, and this will be extended to all routes in due course.”

    Photo: William Murphy/ Flickr

  • A Catch Up With Publin’s John Geraghty

    A Catch Up With Publin’s John Geraghty

    Publin.ie is a pub price comparison and deal-listing website based in, you guessed it, Dublin.

    On the site you can find information on over a hundred pubs around the capital, comprising of a quick and easy description, a photo, location, and a price list for the most popular drinks and any drinks specials they might be running on any given night of the week.

    The site has gone from strength to strength over the years, with an ever-increasing database of pubs and the brains behind it is John Geraghty. TheCity.ie caught up with John to learn more about the site.

    First off, what is Publin?

    “The idea for Publin first started out as a web-based idea revolving around prices, like the price of a pint in Dublin but it has now become more than that. Over time, it’s become about much more, all about the pubs in Dublin, the little knick-knacks in pubs around the place, craft beers and where to get them.

    “We have tailored searches now too, so people can find places that may do food, or gluten free or have a beer garden.”

    How did the idea for it come about?

    “I used to work as a tour guide in Dublin and used to organise pub crawls. You could see all these pubs through the tours, and where people liked to spend their money.

    “Now, there are so many pubs in Dublin that there is more than likely one to suit anyone, in case people have different tastes, and so from that the idea came about, because Publin caters for that.”

    Just how big is the site currently?

    “At the moment it is actually pretty big, the site has been going for four years at this stage. It has gotten to the stage that if someone is looking for a place to go you might hear somebody say ‘Do ya know Publin?’ which is nice to hear.

    “At the moment it has a pretty big following on Twitter and Facebook, which is encouraging. It has around 25,000 followers between the two sites.”

    What is the next step for the site? Are you happy with it just being in Dublin or is there a willingness to branch out to other counties or country wide?

    “I suppose while that sounds nice it’s all to do with revenue. At the moment, Dublin city centre has the biggest concentration of pubs in the country, so there is already a pretty decent market here with plenty of stuff to write on.

    “Another aspect would be that, you’d have a knowledge of Dublin, where certain pubs are etc, it would be a big job to do that with every pub in the country, there’s also a level of comfort within this area. At the moment I’m pretty happy just being in Dublin, and while there’s more that can be done, I’m very happy with how it is.”

    Is it just you or is there a team of people working alongside you?

    “It’s still just me right now, it’s my baby. I trust myself to produce the content and am happy with how it’s all going. You might say I am Publin and Publin is me!

    “I can see it getting bigger again and should that happen then maybe in the future I can hire someone alongside me but at the moment I’m happy.”

  • New transport strategy for greater Dublin area announced

    New transport strategy for greater Dublin area announced

    Plans have been revealed for an overhaul of Dublin’s transport infrastructure, including extensions of the Luas to Lucan and to Finglas.

    The National Transport Authority (NTA) this week released details of its new draft Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area 2016-2035.

    The strategy aims to set out a “cohesive and integrated transport framework to support and sustain the region’s development”.

    The strategy outlines a new Core Bus Network which will have 16 radial bus corridors, 3 orbital bus corridors and 6 regional bus corridors. It also contains plans for a Luas to run to Poolbeg, Finglas, and Lucan.

    There are also plans for Metro North and South, running from St Stephen’s Green to Brides Glen and from St Stephen’s Green to Swords. They also hope to construct the Greater Dublin Cycling Network, which will be over 1,485 kilometres in length.

    “The purpose of our draft transport strategy is to contribute to the economic, social and cultural progress of the Greater Dublin Area by providing for the efficient, effective and sustainable movement of people and goods,” CEO of the National Transport Authority, Anne Graham said.

    “The long-term success of the country’s capital region depends on sound and considered long-term strategic planning. We are therefore encouraging as many people as possible to read our proposals, and the background documentation, and to let us know their views by taking part in our consultation before November 13th,” she said.

    Other works outlined include reopening the Phoenix Park Tunnel for passenger services, which will link the Kildare/Cork line to the city centre, expanding the DART to reach as far as Drogheda, and also the widening of the M50 to three lanes in each direction between Sandyford and the M11.

    Full details of the NTA’s proposed plans and where changes may be made near you are available at their website.