The Irish Tech News Podcast

Flower gardening on Cape Clear, Roaring Water Bay, West Cork. A tour of one of the prettiest collections of flowers to be seen in a garden. Cape Clear Island has had a long positive tradition of families moving from all over the world, to raise their children in the safety and peace of a small friendly island in Roaring Water Bay, West Cork. With the current global pandemic that is COVID-19, many people are assessing what the risks will be of sending their children back to schools in September. Irish Tech News has been commissioned by the Cape Clear National School and Comhar na nOileán to help promote living and educating your children on Cape Clear Island. If you would like to know more information about moving to Cape Clear and sending them to the primary school please contact cathaoirleachsnchleire@gmail.com or jude@oileain.ie

We interviewed Grainne O Keefe the new CEO of the Ludgate digital hub in Skibbereen to discover her insights into the growing network of Irish digital hubs. We also covered adapting your business model during a global pandemic, and how the future could be bright for rural and remote Irish digital hubs, both in West Cork and beyond. Web: www.Ludgate.ie More about Grainne O Keefe Grainne joined Ludgate in Skibbereen as CEO in July 2020. She brings with her a wealth of international management experience spanning 20 years in locations as diverse as London, Tokyo, New York and Skibbereen. Most recently Grainne spent a number of years with Spearline as Head of Innovation and while delighted to be back in her home town of Skibbereen continuing her career trajectory her journey before this is reflective of a large number of our graduates in the area. She graduated from UCC with a BCL in 1993 and then went on to complete an MBS at the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, UCD, in 1995. From there she joined Bank Of Ireland’s Graduate Programme and spent 18 months in Jersey, Channel Islands before moving to London to join JP Morgan in 1998 and subsequently Goldman Sachs in 2003. These organisations enabled global mobility + career expansion spanning London, Tokyo and New York providing Grainne with extensive managerial and strategic roles across global teams. In 2013 Grainne returned to West Cork to ensure her children could benefit from a childhood in West Cork. Her main priority with Ludgate will be to continue the strategic goal of job creation in the rural area ensuring future generations have the option to pursue interesting and challenging careers without the need to leave. Ludgate offers that path to the people of West Cork.

Podcast from the Sustainable Island Economies: Connecting Locally and Globally, Virtual Island Summit. This was Ireland’s Virtual Hub Event, and took place on Wed 2nd Sept 2020. This webinar explores local, regional, national and global connections to promote sustainability in island economies in Ireland. It aims to create connections which can promote exchanges of ideas and experience between Irish islands, the Irish mainland, European islands & the global island network, particularly through the global Virtual Island Summit (VIS) event and network. Sustainable Island Economies: Enterprise, marine economy, sustainability and environment Chair: John Walsh, chair of ESIN (European Small Island Federation). Speakers: Gerard Sullivan, owner of Bere Island Boatyard, who’s working to revive seawright skills in Ireland and our islands. Cathy Ní Ghóill from Inis Mór – Manager of Comharchumann Forbartha Arann, will talk about their waste and recycling project in context of the island economy. Máirtín Ó Méalóid, manager of Cape Clear Island Cooperative, Vice Chair of Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann

We catch up with Treasa Cadogan who shares her experiences of schooling on Cape Clear, and also what it inspired her to go on and do afterwards too. Cape Clear Island has had a long positive tradition of families moving from all over the world, to raise their children in the safety and peace of a small friendly island in Roaring Water Bay, West Cork. With the current global pandemic that is COVID-19, many people are assessing what the risks will be of sending their children back to schools in September. Irish Tech News has been commissioned by the Cape Clear National School and Comhar na nOileán to help promote living and educating your children on Cape Clear Island. If you would like to know more information about moving to Cape Clear and sending them to the primary school please contact cathaoirleachsnchleire@gmail.com or jude@oileain.ie

Sustainable Island Economies: Connecting Locally and Globally Virtual Island Summit – Ireland’s Virtual Hub Event, Wed 2nd Sept 2020 10.15 am Technology and Connectivity: Using innovation and technology to connect Chair: Simon Cocking, Chief Editor, Irish Tech News Speakers: Dr Sarah Robinson, Post-doctoral researcher with Grassroots Wavelengths Community Radio innovations projects, UCC. Brendan Smith, Insight Centre for Data Analytics, NUI Galway Followed by short Q&A Speakers and Chairs: Dr Nóirín Burke is Director of Education at the National Aquarium of Ireland. She works in both formal and informal education, outreach, ocean literacy and stakeholder engagement. She’s on the secretariat of the Irish Ocean Literacy Network and a board member of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group. Trish Hegarty is a former BBC and Irish Times journalist and director of Inis Communications PR agency. She has worked on a range of marine, tourism and regional economy projects for clients such as Fáilte Ireland and Foyle Port and ran the award-winning #LoveDonegal Day campaign last year. Rhoda Twombly lives on Inishlyre, Mayo is Secretary of Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann (Irish Islands Federation) and ESIN, the European Small Islands Federation. Comhdháil was founded in 1984 by 16 islands to examine the difficulties facing islanders, which they felt weren’t being addressed at regional or national level. Dr. Sarah Robinson is a UCC postdoctoral researcher on the grassroots radio project since January 2019, working with island communities on Bere, Sherkin and Cape Clear. Based at the School of Applied Psychology, her background is in social, cultural and community psychology as well participatory action research. Simon Cocking moved to Ireland 25 years ago and lives on Cape Clear Island. He is an entrepreneur, Chief Editor of Irish Tech News, & Editor in Chief at Crypto Commonwealth. He also writes for the Sunday Business Post and The Irish Times.

Positive experiences on a West Cork island with Gerardina Hartnett, local nurse & mother to four children, who describes what their experience of living on the island for a year was like. All four of her children went to local primary school on the island. We learn more about her reasons for moving to Cape Island, West Cork, and raising a family and educating the children in an Irish speaking family and community. Cape Clear Island has had a long positive tradition of families moving from all over the world, to raise their children in the safety and peace of a small friendly island in Roaring Water Bay, West Cork. With the current global pandemic that is COVID-19, many people are assessing what the risks will be of sending their children back to schools in September. Irish Tech News has been commissioned by the Cape Clear National School and Comhar na nOileán to help promote living and educating your children on Cape Clear Island while they lived on the island. If you would like to know more information about moving to Cape Clear and sending them to the primary school please contact cathaoirleachsnchleire@gmail.com or jude@oileain.ie

During the current pandemic, TDS pivoted and are now helping their clients return to work. Ronan talks to Stephen Bishop the CTO of TDS. Stephen explains how they pivoted, how they are assisting businesses with a return to work action plan, what a return to work will look like and how the cloud has become their Swiss army knife.

Fascinating interview with Samantha Parsons, from Fastnet Farm, https://www.fastnetfarm.com/, on Cape Clear island, West Cork. Samantha Parsons grew up fascinated by bees in Massachussettes, had her interest further sparked by her time in Greece. Then, when she wanted to learn more and went to events and conventions, was bemused to see she was the only young or female person there. Undaunted she found mentors and quickly grew her own knowledge and experience of bees, in all their forms. Samantha articulately advocates why bees are so important to our existence and why we need to do more to protect them, both for their sakes and our own. Their farm is located on Cape Clear Island, Ireland's southernmost inhabited island just 8 miles from the coast. We farm a pedigree herd of belted galloways which are well equipped to endure all that the severe Atlantic weather can throw at them. Due to its unique flora and fauna, the island is part of the Natura 2000 network with Specific Areas of Conservation (SACs). Their goal is to maintain the rich biodiversity with a low impact farming system while producing quality products. They produce a high quality artisanal honey from the native and hardy Irish black honeybee. All of our honey is raw, lightly strained and locally harvested from Cape Clear Island. Our hives are managed without the use of synthetic chemicals complementing a strong investment in an all natural approach and a healthy environment. The striking title image comes from a free resource aimed at promoting greater awareness of bees globally. See more images here https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml and in our interview here https://irishtechnews.ie/preserving-bees-photography/

Interesting interview with Mary Molloy Ó Drisceoil, who moved to Cape Clear in 1982 with her family, where they raised their twin boys on the island. We learn more about her reasons for moving to Cape Island, West Cork, and raising a family and educating the children in an Irish speaking family and community. Cape Clear Island has had a long positive tradition of families moving from all over the world, to raise their children in the safety and peace of a small friendly island in Roaring Water Bay, West Cork. With the current global pandemic that is COVID-19, many people are assessing what the risks will be of sending their children back to schools in September. Irish Tech News has been commissioned by the Cape Clear National School and Comhar na nOileán to help promote living and educating your children on Cape Clear Island. If you would like to know more information about moving to Cape Clear and sending them to the primary school please contact cathaoirleachsnchleire@gmail.com or jude@oileain.ie

From Pricewaterhouse to Cape Clear, Why I raised a family there, Seamus Ó Drisceoil We interview Seamus Ó Drisceoil to learn more about his reasons for moving to Cape Island, West Cork, and his experiences of raising a family and educating the children in an irish speaking family and community. Cape Clear Island has had a long positive tradition of families moving from all over the world, to raise their children in the safety and peace of a small friendly island in Roaring Water Bay, West Cork. With the current global pandemic that is COVID-19, many people are assessing what the risks will be of sending their children back to schools in September. Irish Tech News has been commissioned by the Cape Clear National School and Comhar na nOileán to help promote living and educating your children on Cape Clear Island. If you would like to know more information about moving to Cape Clear and sending them to the primary school please contact cathaoirleachsnchleire@gmail.com or jude@oileain.ie