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Irish Independent
31-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Listen and learn: Enterprise Ireland hits the road for Irish start-ups in ‘Founders Listening Tour'
Their experience, resilience, and ambition form the backbone of Ireland's innovation economy. That's why Enterprise Ireland is currently hosting a Founders Listening Tour – a nationwide initiative designed to connect directly with entrepreneurs in every region. The goal is simple; to listen, learn, and ensure the right supports are in place to help Irish start-ups thrive globally. Enterprise Ireland's purpose is to 'Accelerate Sustainable Irish Business', and its ambition is to support Irish-owned exporting companies to make an even greater contribution to the Irish economy through international growth and by creating thousands of jobs in towns and communities around the country. Enterprise Ireland's recently published new strategy, 'Delivering for Ireland, Leading Globally (2025-2029)', sets out our four strategic objectives for the Irish enterprise base; Start, Compete, Scale and Connect. Over the course of this five-year strategy, Enterprise Ireland will continue to enhance the pipeline of innovative and scalable start-ups and support their long-term, sustainable growth ambitions, with a goal of helping 1,000 new start-ups between now and 2029. Irish-owned companies supported by Enterprise Ireland are economic cornerstones in communities around the country, these businesses currently employ 234,454 people, and almost two-thirds of these roles are located outside of Dublin. The Founders Listening Tour takes in a number of locations around the country, and at these events we're hosting panel discussions and roundtable consultations with a cross-section of founders from companies of all sizes in multiple sectors. These conversations aim to identify challenges, evaluate existing supports and shape a stronger start-up ecosystem in this country. It kicked off in TU Dublin in early May, where companies from the capital got together to share thoughts on the entrepreneurship journey. Those presenting at the event included JustTip, a fully automated contactless tipping and gratuities system, and which has developed an artificial intelligence solution for market research companies. Since then, we've organised two more events. The first was held at Galway's Portershed, bringing together companies from the local innovation cluster. The panel featured local founders Emma Meehan of KinetikIQ (formerly Precision Sports Technology), which leverages AI to enhance training accuracy and reduce injury risk, and Brandon Blacoe of ByoWave, a company dedicated to making gaming more inclusive. Both speakers shared valuable insights and participated in one-on-one consultations. What we've learned from entrepreneurs so far is that funding and revenue generation continue to be key areas of focus Our most recent event took place at GreenTech HQ in Wexford, attracting participants from across the southeast region. The panel included Max Shannon from and Yvonne Jonson of Brand Builders. Upcoming events are slated for Axis BIC in Cork, AlphaInnovation in Donegal, and IMR Mullingar in Westmeath, with the series concluding at a stakeholder event in Dublin later this month. What we've learned from entrepreneurs so far is that funding and revenue generation continue to be key areas of focus for them, and they're always keen to have more ways to connect with investors and international customers. Along with getting the right contacts, it can also be a challenge for companies to know which support programmes and initiatives are right for them, and where to apply for them. Clarity and accessibility around these types of support is a critical priority for founders. Once complete, we intend to develop a roadmap of initiatives, focused on addressing the priorities shared by founders Founders are also keen to access mentorship opportunities with successful entrepreneurs, and to find the right talent and encourage people to join start-ups. Once complete, we intend to develop a roadmap of initiatives, focused on addressing the priorities shared by founders. By harnessing this real-world insight, we can better support our new startup strategy, through our network of 42 offices in Ireland and around the world. As the EU seeks to harmonise the European market as a great place to scale a business, we're also working with our colleagues in Brussels and elsewhere to ensure our programme of supports ties in with the European Start-Up and Scale-up Strategy. If you're an existing or aspiring founder with ideas for supports or other feedback to share, drop a line to StartupIreland@ or complete the Founders Listening Tour survey. Conor O'Donovan is Head of Start-ups and Entrepreneurship at Enterprise Ireland
RTÉ News
18-05-2025
- Politics
- RTÉ News
The maths behind the public votes at Eurovision 2025
Pollster Kevin Cunningham explains how the nature of Eurovision voting influenced the outcome When it comes to the public votes cast at the Eurovision, we need to take elements like 'diffuse alternatives' and 'motivated reasoning' into consideration. This is according to Dr Kevin Cunningham, a lecturer in politics at TU Dublin and the founder of the Ireland Thinks polling company. First, there's 'diffuse alternatives', Cunningham explains. "If Israel were on the ballot, let's say, and that was the principal thing people were voting on, there's only one Israeli option and 24 other non-Israel options. So that means that the relative concentration of support within the Israeli option tends to be a little bit higher." From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland in May 2024, why did Ireland give Israel 10 points at Eurovision 2024? So what vote share would we expect Israel to have gotten to get to second place? "If we look at the result from previous years' Eurovision finals, the second place got around 13 or 14% in the last two years, so we might expect that it only takes 13 or 14% for someone to actually get to 2nd place. That means that quite a large proportion might actually have been voting for others." We also have to take 'motivated reasoning' into consideration. "We see this in politics when it comes to turnout in elections and turnout in referendums", explains Cunningham. "When we see turnout in referendums become very low we notice that the results become quite skewed. If turnout in a referendum gets lower than 35% the people who are more motivated, more interested, tend to influence the outcome a little bit more". In the case of Eurovision, it's even more extreme. "Because we know that even of those that viewed the Eurovision, only around 6 or 7%, from previous data, actually vote", says Cunningham, "so it means that it's at the extreme end. But then what accentuates this even more is the number of times that you can vote. You can vote up to 20 times so that influences it to a massive degree in reality. "You could imagine there are certain people who vote once or twice for a given song, and then there might be some people who vote 20 times for the exact same song or country. By definition, taken together with the low turnout and also the scale in which people might be voting, it necessitates, basically, an extreme preference for whoever tends to win, or otherwise. If you imagine a room of 100 people and 99 of them vote once, and one of them votes 20 times, based on our sums, you could expect that one to actually win."
Irish Independent
10-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Irish Independent
Home help: Should I replace my bath in favour of a super-sized shower?
When time is tight (and space even tighter), many of us are left wondering if the beloved bathtub is still worth the footprint it takes up. To help weigh up the pros and cons, I turned to expert Honor Curé who, as the winner of the Sonas Bathrooms and TU Dublin 2025 Bathroom Design of the Year competition, knows a thing or two about how to make a bathroom work smarter, not harder. 'A thoughtfully designed bathroom can genuinely impact your quality of life,' says Curé. 'A smart layout can give you back precious minutes in the morning rush, help you unwind in the evening, or offer a rare few minutes of peace during a hectic day.' And yet, despite its importance, the bathroom is usually one of the smallest rooms in the home. This means every fixture has to earn its place — and none more so than in the bath-versus-shower debate. Curé recommends starting with your daily routine. 'If you shower daily and only find time for a proper soak once a month (or less), a super-sized shower is probably the better investment. It makes moving around easier and can really elevate your experience of the space.' She points to Sonas Bathrooms's 1700mm-long shower tray — a personal favourite — because it fits into the same footprint as a standard bath. 'You can even add an internal seat — perfect for the all-encompassing 'everything showers' trending on TikTok right now,' she adds. Life stage also plays a role. Baths can be a godsend for families with young children, but as households evolve, showers tend to offer more long-term flexibility — especially for those with mobility needs or older family members. Height matters too: taller folks often find a tub too cramped, while a spacious shower can feel far more comfortable. Then there's the environmental and financial angle. 'Showers use significantly less water than baths,' Curé notes. 'A bath can use up to 60 more litres of water than a 10-minute shower, so the savings on your energy bill are real.' Ultimately, the decision comes down to lifestyle, space and how you see your needs evolving. 'If you're practical about how you use your bathroom and open to rethinking the norm, you can create a space that's both functional and indulgent, for now and for the future.' So, if your bath is gathering more dust than bubbles, it might be time to let it go in favour of a fabulous, full-sized shower experience.
RTÉ News
02-05-2025
- Science
- RTÉ News
Courses to allow second-level teachers to qualify in new subjects
Second-level teachers will be able to qualify to instruct in three new subject areas through programmes that will be offered in Dublin and Limerick from September. TU Dublin, Trinity College and University of Limerick will offer upskilling courses for teachers in Computer Science, French, and Politics and Society. Similar upskilling programmes, aimed at addressing a shortage of qualified teachers in specific subject areas are already running in Spanish, Mathematics, Physics and Irish. Announcing the new programmes Minister for Education Helen McEntee said providing more upskilling opportunities for teachers was vital in supporting teachers, but also in helping to address teacher supply. "These courses are free and will help teachers to upskill in a flexible way, increasing their own job opportunities while addressing recruitment challenges in each of these subjects," she said. Graduates of the programmes are then able to register to teach the subjects as qualified teachers. The new courses are open to all qualified post-primary teachers, whether they are working or not.
