Remote working pioneer Tim’s proposal to revitalise rural Ireland
EMPTY farmhouses lying derelict around remote parts of Ireland could become part of a package that the Irish Government could use to attract highly qualified and paid workers in the Irish diaspora to return home with their jobs to help revitalise rural Irish communities.
That’s according to Dr Tim Twomey, the son of a Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh exile, who returned to his ancestral home more than 10 years ago but continued to work with his Tennessee based company.
A pioneer of remote working, Tim had been working with the same company since 1986 but apart from the first year when he had been based at the company headquarters, he had worked for a time from a hot desk in Reading in the UK, then at his own home and, finally, from his home in Ballingeary when he had moved back to the Múscraí Gaeltacht.
His father, Liam Twomey, had left Ballingeary where he had lived in the village to study medicine in UCC. After qualifying he went on to Newcastle On Tyne to practice and that’s where he met Tim’s mother, Marjorie Fletcher, and where Tim spent his youth.
Now back in Ballingeary since 2009, and retired from his job since 2015, Tim, a self confessed ‘serial fixer upper’ has renovated his own house and a neighbouring house.
He feels strongly that the Government needs to focus its attention on the diaspora where he feels there are many people working in high income, high tech jobs, who could be enticed to move themselves, their families and their jobs to Ireland.
“It’s not just about good broadband,” he said. “Look at all those empty houses around areas like this – if the Government were to give a tax break to people to renovate these houses, it could lead to an extra boost for the regeneration of rural areas.”
He feels that the Government is focused on attracting large companies to locate in Ireland when a more directed approach to individuals could lead to a huge development boost in remote rural areas.
“For an area like Ballingeary, a half dozen people moving into the area with their jobs could lead be a significant boost to the local economy,” he said.
Ballingeary is already ahead of the game as the local co-op, Comharchumann Forbartha Mhúscraí, is managing a digital business centre, G-Teic Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh, offering hot desk and gigabit broadband facilities in a modern building. Already the centre is attracting clients ahead of its official opening.