OpenSparkz - already dead in the water?

Xenji

Well nearly a month after the announcement nobody really knows what is happening with the jobs announcement, Enda has distanced himself from it and claimed he never endorsed it, the IDA want nothing to do with it, Declan Conway still has legal challenges in the high court taken against him by investors and the company is basing everything on a battering system a la the Ground Nuts Scheme in the 50's.

It all sounds very dodgy, this is the 3rd jobs announcement for Castlebar in 3 years and along with Cloudstrong and Northgate, this seems to be another case of counting your chickens before they hatch and nothing will come of it.

yop

Xenji wrote: »

Well nearly a month after the announcement nobody really knows what is happening with the jobs announcement, Enda has distanced himself from it and claimed he never endorsed it, the IDA want nothing to do with it, Declan Conway still has legal challenges in the high court taken against him by investors and the company is basing everything on a battering system a la the Ground Nuts Scheme in the 50's.

It all sounds very dodgy, this is the 3rd jobs announcement for Castlebar in 3 years and along with Cloudstrong and Northgate, this seems to be another case of counting your chickens before they hatch and nothing will come of it.

Total farce I'd say, grasping at straws and they have so much baggage that even if they get setup they will be off on a poor footing.
Cloudstrong in fairness has created roles, though plenty of interns and not sure about the perms.
I THINK I heard Northgate have hired a massive 5 people, only 245 to go.

I think Enda is a white elephant with regards jobs creation, he must be the worse record of "parish pump" politics than any other Taoiseach. He said he was going to make a change, but don't fuk over the people who voted u in.

Any chance of good job investment is gone.

No word of the 100 jobs gone in Dalgan in Kilmaine, yet the following day RTE had an announcement of 100 jobs in Dundalk.

yop

Xenji wrote: »

Well nearly a month after the announcement nobody really knows what is happening with the jobs announcement, Enda has distanced himself from it and claimed he never endorsed it, the IDA want nothing to do with it, Declan Conway still has legal challenges in the high court taken against him by investors and the company is basing everything on a battering system a la the Ground Nuts Scheme in the 50's.

It all sounds very dodgy, this is the 3rd jobs announcement for Castlebar in 3 years and along with Cloudstrong and Northgate, this seems to be another case of counting your chickens before they hatch and nothing will come of it.

Total farce I'd say, grasping at straws and they have so much baggage that even if they get setup they will be off on a poor footing.
Cloudstrong in fairness has created roles, though plenty of interns and not sure about the perms.
I THINK I heard Northgate have hired a massive 5 people, only 245 to go.

I think Enda is a white elephant with regards jobs creation, he must be the worse record of "parish pump" politics than any other Taoiseach. He said he was going to make a change, but don't fuk over the people who voted u in.

Any chance of good job investment is gone.

No word of the 100 jobs gone in Dalgan in Kilmaine, yet the following day RTE had an announcement of 100 jobs in Dundalk.

irishgeo

according to cloudstrong website they are recruiting a project manager and engineers and sales no indication where the jobs are though.

northgate latest is this

Northgate signs lease for new National Business Centre in Castlebar


Áine Ryan

FOURTEEN months after the initial news that health services company, Northgate would be creating 150 jobs in Castlebar, the company has confirmed it has signed a lease for its new National Business Centre, in the suburban village of Breaffy.
A statement confirmed that Northgate has also begun its recruitment process to attract new staff with the first ten beginning work in April.
“In the long term, the plans are to take on a total of 150 new staff roles. In the coming months the company will start to deliver a number of Irish contracts and will continue to explore new business opportunities to expand the workforce in Castlebar,” a spokeswoman for the company said.
“Finding the right location from our long term investment into Castlebar took longer than expected. Now that we have secured the Breaffy road facility, we can begin recruiting on a solid foundation able to deliver critical services to Irish customers,” said Executive Director, Joe Bradley.
“With the right premises we can now focus on developing and growing the company in Castlebar, taking on local talent to provide invaluable services in Ireland to the public sector, including the health service, local government, central government and the Garda,” he continued.
During the original announcement in December 2013, the much-needed jobs boost for the county town was overshadowed by a shock announcement of significant job losses at the Baxter plant.
At the time, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the news was ‘an indication of the confidence of a major service provider in the Irish economy’ and, moreover that ‘the investment and additional jobs were particularly welcome in the west of Ireland’.
A private company specialising in public service contract work, Northgate operates around the world and currently has 100 employees in Ireland. It runs a newborn hearing screening programme for the HSE in public maternity hospitals and also operates computer file management systems for some other hospitals.

Anyone know what building they signed the lease on?

ethical

Did he not speak on the local radio about a year ago re 15 water jobs and he did deliver! The 'boys' went in to work one morning as CoCo workers and came home in the evening as Water Company employees!!
There would be great fun if an election happened anytime soon,you would have some Rainbow here in Mayo.As it stands Enda would find it hard to get elected.Ring would again be a certainty,no matter what party he represented,Mulherin would be better off going to Kenya rather than phoning there regularly,O'Mahony is sulking as Enda did not give him the Sports ministers job as was promised and now he may have to run in Galway,he hasn't a hope of getting elected in Mayo again as the GAA will not be hoodwinked another time.Calleary will be elected and the young Chambers lady may sneak it,also expect Conway-Walsh to get a seat and you'd never rule out Lucinda getting a well known figure to represent her in the Claremorris region.If Fitzmaurice coaches a candidate we may even have a big fight for the last seat....and Dr.Cowley is not finished yet either!

nuac

ethical wrote: »

Did he not speak on the local radio about a year ago re 15 water jobs and he did deliver! The 'boys' went in to work one morning as CoCo workers and came home in the evening as Water Company employees!!
There would be great fun if an election happened anytime soon,you would have some Rainbow here in Mayo.As it stands Enda would find it hard to get elected.Ring would again be a certainty,no matter what party he represented,Mulherin would be better off going to Kenya rather than phoning there regularly,O'Mahony is sulking as Enda did not give him the Sports ministers job as was promised and now he may have to run in Galway,he hasn't a hope of getting elected in Mayo again as the GAA will not be hoodwinked another time.Calleary will be elected and the young Chambers lady may sneak it,also expect Conway-Walsh to get a seat and you'd never rule out Lucinda getting a well known figure to represent her in the Claremorris region.If Fitzmaurice coaches a candidate we may even have a big fight for the last seat....and Dr.Cowley is not finished yet either!

Has Lucinda announced a candidate or set up an organisation in Mayo?

Westernyelp

Anything happening with this project? I don't see any sign of major investment anytime soon. the weeds are still getting higher :rolleyes:

yop

Westernyelp wrote: »

Anything happening with this project? I don't see any sign of major investment anytime soon. the weeds are still getting higher :rolleyes:

I read something about it in the Connaught last week that its looking something like its less likely.

irishgeo

good article here.

http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21921:opensparkz-to-invest-over-8m-on-old-volex-factory-in-castlebar&catid=23:news&Itemid=46

they want to buy the volex factory off the council for 700k. the council paid 610k for it last year.

I cant understand why they need to buy it. cant they just rent it.

Westernyelp

irishgeo wrote: »

good article here.

http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21921:opensparkz-to-invest-over-8m-on-old-volex-factory-in-castlebar&catid=23:news&Itemid=46

they want to buy the volex factory off the council for 700k. the council paid 610k for it last year.

I cant understand why they need to buy it. cant they just rent it.

Great if that's true. lets hope we see things moving soon

yop

Westernyelp wrote: »

Great if that's true. lets hope we see things moving soon

Exactly, though this cloud of the previous investors if they get a ruling against might kick that in the arse. Fingers crossed it doesn't as we need some good jobs in Castlebar.

godskitchen

irishgeo wrote: »

good article here.

http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21921:opensparkz-to-invest-over-8m-on-old-volex-factory-in-castlebar&catid=23:news&Itemid=46

they want to buy the volex factory off the council for 700k. the council paid 610k for it last year.

I cant understand why they need to buy it. cant they just rent it.

They want to buy it to sit on it and then sell it on.

It's a prime site and is worth far more 700k.

This "project" is not going to happen. Their business plan is crazy.

Westernyelp

godskitchen wrote: »

They want to buy it to sit on it and then sell it on.

It's a prime site and is worth far more 700k.

This "project" is not going to happen. Their business plan is crazy.

It should be a lease agreement only for the first 10 years, with an option to buy if they still exist then, we seems unlikely at this point.

godskitchen

Westernyelp wrote: »

It should be a lease agreement only for the first 10 years, with an option to buy if they still exist then, we seems unlikely at this point.

It's not too late for anything, no Deal is done.

It hasn't been sold yet, it's been talked about.

They need to set targets for the company to reach on job creation and average wage for workers. If they won't agree to the conditions then good luck, take the business somewhere else.

It's a crazy business plan in any case but of course the people making the decisions in the council have no experience to tell a good idea from a bad one.

Plenty of buzz words and MBA double speak but nothing to hang your hat on.

They have also seriously undervalued the site at €700k

irishgeo

godskitchen wrote: »

It's not too late for anything, no Deal is done.

It hasn't been sold yet, it's been talked about.

They need to set targets for the company to reach on job creation and average wage for workers. If they won't agree to the conditions then good luck, take the business somewhere else.

It's a crazy business plan in any case but of course the people making the decisions in the council have no experience to tell a good idea from a bad one.

Plenty of buzz words and MBA double speak but nothing to hang your hat on.

They have also seriously undervalued the site at €700k

its being voted on at the next meeting after a presentation by opensparkz.

godskitchen

irishgeo wrote: »

its being voted on at the next meeting after a presentation by opensparkz.

Any idea when that is?

irishgeo

godskitchen wrote: »

Any idea when that is?

It appears to be the 2nd Monday of each month.

irishgeo

they voted to sell the building to opensparkz

http://www.midwestradio.ie/index.php/news/26888-mayo-county-councillors-vote-to-sell-the-former-volex-building-in-castlebar-to-opensparkz

Westernyelp

irishgeo wrote: »

they voted to sell the building to opensparkz

http://www.midwestradio.ie/index.php/news/26888-mayo-county-councillors-vote-to-sell-the-former-volex-building-in-castlebar-to-opensparkz

Do we know if the have any clauses on buying it back included in this potential deal?

yop

250 seems to be the magic number, Northgate was 250 I'd swear too.That new power station is another 250.
Will we even see 25 between the 3 of them! You'd swear an election was coming up

yop

250 seems to be the magic number, Northgate was 250 I'd swear too.That new power station is another 250.
Will we even see 25 between the 3 of them! You'd swear an election was coming up

irishgeo

Job Announcements

Northgate 150 jobs announced Nov 13 nearly 2 years later and no one has started yet.

CloudStrong 19 new jobs announced March 14 , i dont count intern-ships as jobs and i havent seen or heard of anyone starting these 19 new jobs.

OpenSparkz 250 over 3 yrs. We will wait and see.

Job Loses
Jun-15 BAXTER Healthcare are to let go up to 100 workers in their Castlebar plant as their temporary contracts come to an end.
May-15 17 jobs lost by shock closure of sam adams.

I say the job loses have it, not including all the shops and cafes closed around the town.

yop

irishgeo wrote: »

Job Announcements

Northgate 150 jobs announced Nov 13 nearly 2 years later and no one has started yet.

CloudStrong 19 new jobs announced March 14 , i dont count intern-ships as jobs and i havent seen or heard of anyone starting these 19 new jobs.

OpenSparkz 250 over 3 yrs. We will wait and see.

Job Loses
Jun-15 BAXTER Healthcare are to let go up to 100 workers in their Castlebar plant as their temporary contracts come to an end.
May-15 17 jobs lost by shock closure of sam adams.

I say the job loses have it, not including all the shops and cafes closed around the town.

My missus and 13 more of them have been let go since xmas, not a beep about that. Yet Inda was down when they were opening a shoebox 3 years ago.

Cloudstrong is fully internship jobs. Pointless. Chemist required in Baxter, Jobbridge, IT technician required in Aniar from what I remember, jobbridge also.

She is out of work now 5 weeks and has been able to apply for 2 jobs, one she wont even get an interview but tried it anyway. The other is a 3 month maternity cover. Yet go to Galway and there must be 20 openings which they can't seem to fill. I travel daily to Galway, we both can't.

Sorry gone off thread a bit, but its farcical stuff really all these so called job announcements and not a sign of any evidence to back them up yet.

godskitchen

irishgeo wrote: »

they voted to sell the building to opensparkz

http://www.midwestradio.ie/index.php/news/26888-mayo-county-councillors-vote-to-sell-the-former-volex-building-in-castlebar-to-opensparkz

I can believe it. I don't want to but I can. I predict no jobs, building re sold in 2 years for profit.

ethical

Enda has employed a few (to promote him in his home patch),paid for out of the public purse though! Just wait and see the amount of diggers and heavy plant that will be up and running the morning after the election is called,a boom is on the horizon......just wait until the election is announced.

am946745

Xenji wrote: »

Well nearly a month after the announcement nobody really knows what is happening with the jobs announcement, Enda has distanced himself from it and claimed he never endorsed it, the IDA want nothing to do with it, Declan Conway still has legal challenges in the high court taken against him by investors and the company is basing everything on a battering system a la the Ground Nuts Scheme in the 50's.

It all sounds very dodgy, this is the 3rd jobs announcement for Castlebar in 3 years and along with Cloudstrong and Northgate, this seems to be another case of counting your chickens before they hatch and nothing will come of it.

Back in the day I worked for a company that had 1.5 million pounds funding.. Yes they actually got the money from an american investor. We had 40 people in the company. The company survived 18 months before it when bankrupt. They had all the PR you wanted, but they did not have a business.

So when you see jobs announced, just google and see who is announcing them.

The latest announcement of bio energy plant in Killala has only 30 permanent jobs, so to might work.

TruthEnforcer

Deal to sell premises to Opensparkz by Mayo Co. Co. approved by majority of Councillors.(FG mostly)

Clause inserted into sale agreement that Mayo County Council has '1st. Option to 'Buy back' the premises .. if Opensparkz decides to sell it any time ????

This is only going to go one way .. Opensparkz will fail to get the required 'backing' for this 'White Elephant'.... they will make out it was 'someones else's' fault the plan didn't work and offer to resell it back to Mayo County Council at the then Increased 'OMSP' (Open Market Selling Price) .. which lets say for argument case is set at 1 Million Euro's. If this happens then Mayo County Council and its Rate Payers will have been 'turned over' for almost 400,000 .. and they will congratulate themselves (Officials & Co. Councillors) on what a 'great job' they are doing for the people ???

The County Councils role is to create an environment for business to grow and employ .. they are NOT the IDA / Enterprise Ireland .. nor have they any experience in 'Job Creation' .. unless it involves whizzing around the world on non-worthy junkets (especially to Cleveland)

yop

TruthEnforcer wrote: »

Deal to sell premises to Opensparkz by Mayo Co. Co. approved by majority of Councillors.(FG mostly)

Clause inserted into sale agreement that Mayo County Council has '1st. Option to 'Buy back' the premises .. if Opensparkz decides to sell it any time ????

This is only going to go one way .. Opensparkz will fail to get the required 'backing' for this 'White Elephant'.... they will make out it was 'someones else's' fault the plan didn't work and offer to resell it back to Mayo County Council at the then Increased 'OMSP' (Open Market Selling Price) .. which lets say for argument case is set at 1 Million Euro's. If this happens then Mayo County Council and its Rate Payers will have been 'turned over' for almost 400,000 .. and they will congratulate themselves (Officials & Co. Councillors) on what a 'great job' they are doing for the people ???

The County Councils role is to create an environment for business to grow and employ .. they are NOT the IDA / Enterprise Ireland .. nor have they any experience in 'Job Creation' .. unless it involves whizzing around the world on non-worthy junkets (especially to Cleveland)

So you think that property will increase by 65% in the interim between when they buy and in the year or 2 that they discover it won't be a runner.... I presume you know the state of the property market in Mayo?

TruthEnforcer

yop wrote: »

So you think that property will increase by 65% in the interim between when they buy and in the year or 2 that they discover it won't be a runner.... I presume you know the state of the property market in Mayo?

It could well see an increase of 65% within 2 to 3 years ... which isn't necessarily a reflection of how 'property values in Mayo' will go per say ... but a reflection on this particular 'property deal' which I understand has seriously undervalued the property in the first place !

The main mover and shaker' on this 'deal / proposal' came about supposedly between a chance meeting by 'Cyril Burke' (Mayo FG Co. Councillor and brother of Sen Paddy Burke), and the main people behind Opensparkz (which is only in existence as a Limited Co. since February of this year). This is the same Cyril Burke who is also a Director of Western Premier Properties (estate Agents in Castlebar). It was he who initially proposed for Mayo County Council to buy it in the first place .. when all along he seems to have been in discussion with Opensparkz directors ??? .. so why didn't they (Opensparkz) buy it themselves at an even lower price ??

Mayo Co. Co. took the bait and bought it for 610,000 and then arranged to sell it on for 700,000 to Opensparkz, with the 'buy back clause' inserted ! In my opinion this is all a bit Odd !

TruthEnforcer

yop wrote: »

So you think that property will increase by 65% in the interim between when they buy and in the year or 2 that they discover it won't be a runner.... I presume you know the state of the property market in Mayo?

Firstly 'Yob' .. I don't know where your getting your 65% increase from .. a difference between 700,000 and 1,000,000 is 300,000 which works out at about a 43% increase !

It could well see an increase of 43% within 2 to 3 years ... which isn't necessarily a reflection of how 'property values in Mayo' will go per say ... but a reflection on this particular 'property deal' which I understand has seriously undervalued the property in the first place !

The main mover and shaker' on this 'deal / proposal' came about supposedly between a chance meeting by 'Cyril Burke' (Mayo FG Co. Councillor and brother of Sen Paddy Burke), and the main people behind Opensparkz (which is only in existence as a Limited Co. since February of this year). This is the same Cyril Burke who is also a Director of Western Premier Properties (estate Agents in Castlebar). It was he who initially proposed for Mayo County Council to buy it in the first place .. when all along he seems to have been in discussion with Opensparkz directors ??? .. so why didn't they (Opensparkz) buy it themselves at an even lower price ??

Mayo Co. Co. took the bait and bought it for 610,000 and then arranged to sell it on for 700,000 to Opensparkz, with the 'buy back clause' inserted ! In my opinion this is all a bit Odd !

expectationlost

can someone point me to where this was first proposed 3 years ago you say and trying to search back that far