The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Jobs on agenda as Deirdre takes the helm at Dingle Hub
BY 2023 Dingle will have 100 more jobs in technology, according to the newly appointed business manager at the Dingle Creativity and Innovation Hub.
Deirdre de Bhailís from Ventry started work in her new role last week and relishes the task that lies ahead of her as the central hub in the creation of 100 technology jobs in West Kerry.
Deirdre is no stranger to technology , having spent 17 years working with companies such as the Tyndall Institute. She studied for a degree in Electronic Engineering in NUIG and later undertook a masters degree in the area of electro magnetics and radio frequency telecommunications in UCC before taking up research positions with Tyndall. More recently she has worked promoting electronic engineering to schools while working for the Cork Electronics Industry Association.
Deirdre understands well the difference that providing skilled employment for people who have left the area will make, having returned to Ventry five years not expecting to find employment in her field in West Kerry.
She is passionate about introducing young people to technology and the rich variety of career opportunities it presents. According to Deirdre the aim of the Dingle Hub is to bring “larger companies, start-ups and creative people together so as to identify and create new job opportunities”.
“Dingle’s established artistic community makes it an ideal place to base these activities,” she added.
Large companies who have already started work with the Hub include eir – with their support for the development of the hub – and ESB Networks who are planning to use Dingle as a test site for ‘smart technology’ that will be central to Ireland’s planned transition to a low carbon society.
Deirdre’s job is multi-faceted and involves managing the running of the Dingle Hub, progressing the ESB Networks project, and an ambitious proposal to convert the old Dingle Hospital into a community/arts/tourism/business centre. She is getting up to speed on the different projects, starting with the ESB Networks project. Part of this process will be community engagement and she promises community information evenings in the near future.
Meanwhile, the contract for carrying out a feasibility study on the old hospital project has just been granted to Tom O’Leary Consulting and is in progress. Aware of the obstacles to development caused by the severe shortage of affordable housing in the area, the feasibility study will also “look at the accommodation situation in the area”, said Deirdre.
Daughter of Maura and Micheál de Bhailís of Ballymore West, Deirdre like many of her contemporaries left to go to college and had to remain away to find employment in her field. She now lives in Ventry with her husband Gary Mc Namara and three children.
“To get this job is the icing on the cake,” she said, surprised and delighted by the opportunity and demonstrating the initial success of Mol teic in providing a job for a person who otherwise would have had to travel to get employment.