New businesses

Castlebar12

Westernyelp wrote: »

fair enough so. Scarlet was a few doors up. (Burnt out and boarded up now) there is a big planning app in for there. NIB building has been empty since I think.
Leo's temporary shop has work going on too, not sure what is going in there then

No Scarlet was in the NIB building which is why it is now white. The burnt out building was Amber.

naughto

Thought cex are going in to Leo's temp place

Castlebar12

naughto wrote: »

Thought cex are going in to Leo's temp place

Their website says the old NIB building.

irishgeo

2 visits to the new advanced technology building in castlebar.

http://www.con-telegraph.ie/news/roundup/articles/2017/06/05/4141152-ida-actively-marketing-mayos-new-advance-technology-building/

naughto

irishgeo wrote: »

2 visits to the new advanced technology building in castlebar.

http://www.con-telegraph.ie/news/roundup/articles/2017/06/05/4141152-ida-actively-marketing-mayos-new-advance-technology-building/

Prob the post man and milkman

godskitchen

naughto wrote: »

Prob the post man and milkman

I would say one of them was IrishTV, I seen their 4x4s parked outside there last year sometime, it was the higher ups, not anyone reporting.

This was not too long before IrishTV went under.

No idea who the other one was.

Realistically, where would a high tech company get the staff to fill a building of that size? I cant see many people relocating to castlebar

nuac

godskitchen wrote: »

I would say one of them was IrishTV, I seen their 4x4s parked outside there last year sometime, it was the higher ups, not anyone reporting.

This was not too long before IrishTV went under.

No idea who the other one was.

Realistically, where would a high tech company get the staff to fill a building of that size? I cant see many people relocating to castlebar

Perhaps it can be subdivided to facilitate smaller startups?

After all Apple started in a garage.

Lukekul

godskitchen wrote: »

Realistically, where would a high tech company get the staff to fill a building of that size? I cant see many people relocating to castlebar

I think there's probably more people (like me) from Castlebar/Mayo that have High IT/Tech skills that would love to be able to work closer to home.

It's also why i wish GMIT would have put more effort into IT courses.

Xenji

godskitchen wrote: »

I would say one of them was IrishTV, I seen their 4x4s parked outside there last year sometime, it was the higher ups, not anyone reporting.

This was not too long before IrishTV went under.

No idea who the other one was.

Realistically, where would a high tech company get the staff to fill a building of that size? I cant see many people relocating to castlebar

It may not have have been Irish TV, Mayo had 4 visits last year in the first 6 months of the year and we had none then for 9 months after, the two visits mentioned in the CT article would have had to be from the start of April onward this year or before the end of June last year.

yop

Lukekul wrote: »

I think there's probably more people (like me) from Castlebar/Mayo that have High IT/Tech skills that would love to be able to work closer to home.

It's also why i wish GMIT would have put more effort into IT courses.

Same as, and have been touting companies to try get them to setup here when they cant get any staff in places like Dublin. Very frustrating.

PARlance

Lukekul wrote: »

I think there's probably more people (like me) from Castlebar/Mayo that have High IT/Tech skills that would love to be able to work closer to home.

It's also why i wish GMIT would have put more effort into IT courses.

There definitely seems to be a hunger for people to strike that good work life balance if the jobs were in the West. I hope something real and substantial is announced in the coming year or so. I'm sure plenty of highly skilled people would be attracted back by the prospect.

While I'm 100% behind GMIT in Castlebar, I don't think Digital/IT is a area they should particularly focus on if there was a fresh approach taken. A few courses for sure, but they need to find a niche that seperates it from others and Castlebar isn't going to have students flocking to it for Digital/IT courses. They'll go to the Cities were there are jobs aplenty for internships, jobs post College etc. The demographics of the College is worryingly high, it's great to see people getting back into education but it needs to find a few niches to attract younger students from all over.

Nursing is obviously one. Very few campuses with a Hospital on the grounds. I believe they're already at capacity though, it would be great to find away around increasing that.

Outdoor Education / Fitness etc is a growing sector, they should really focus on expanding on the good platform they have.

Food / Hospitality / Tourism offers plenty of job opportunities in the West. You want courses with job prospects for them straight after education.

Those would be 3 key areas I would base a new approach on.

The former Digital course wouldn't fit into the high IT / Tech category you mention above afaik. It was much more focused around Digital photography, animation, editing etc. All relevant but not what a FDI would be looking for en masse.

If they do get a fresh opportunity to shape the future of the GMIT in Castlebar, I really hope they get the focus right. I can't ever see Castlebar appealing to IT Students when they have Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway etc to dazzle them. It would be great if it could be managed, but not realistic imo. Find what we can be good and really specialise in it.

Lukekul

PARlance wrote: »

The former Digital course wouldn't fit into the high IT / Tech category you mention above afaik. It was much more focused around Digital photography, animation, editing etc. All relevant but not what a FDI would be looking for en masse.

If they do get a fresh opportunity to shape the future of the GMIT in Castlebar, I really hope they get the focus right. I can't ever see Castlebar appealing to IT Students when they have Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway etc to dazzle them. It would be great if it could be managed, but not realistic imo. Find what we can be good and really specialise in it.

Just want to mention that IT Carlow is a small institution that has a couple of very good IT courses despite being in a similarly sized town.

They have also really found their niche with sports courses in my opinion and should be something GMIT here should look to emulate in its own way.

Avns1s

godskitchen wrote: »

I am struggling to think who would want to take a building of that size, you just won't get the staff in Castlebar to fill any meaningful operation.

That's what a lot of people think and perhaps this thinking is what has been holding us back for years.

It is not the experience of Companies / Employers in reality. Large companies in Mayo have had little difficulty in filling significant numbers of skilled roles in relatively short timeframes. Sure, from time to time there are roles that are difficult to fill, but they are equally difficult to fill in neighbouring counties with large urban populations.

Plenty of people, particularly from their late 20's on who have got the travel bug out of their system, are delighted to avail of opportunities in Mayo when they exist. The key is creating those opportunities, the advance building is part of the solution and should be welcomed.

godskitchen

I like all your optimistic opinions but I still struggle to see any large multinational coming to castlebar without significant incentive. Of course by that I mean throwing money at them.

Chronic infrastructure and the dead hand over knock airport will mean it doesn't matter how good the life style here is.

Wasn't there a company in Westport recently, looking for high skilled workers, paying good wages and pulled out because they couldn't get the people? Pretty sure one of you lads were offered a job with them?

Hopefully the zone around knock can kick things into action but I have serious doubts.

Lukekul

godskitchen wrote: »

I like all your optimistic opinions but I still struggle to see any large multinational coming to castlebar without significant incentive. Of course by that I mean throwing money at them.

Chronic infrastructure and the dead hand over knock airport will mean it doesn't matter how good the life style here is.

?

godskitchen wrote: »

Wasn't there a company in Westport recently, looking for high skilled workers, paying good wages and pulled out because they couldn't get the people? Pretty sure one of you lads were offered a job with them?

Hopefully the zone around knock can kick things into action but I have serious doubts.

I remember only seeing job postings for that company only after they had pulled out, shame.

runawaybishop

godskitchen wrote: »

Wasn't there a company in Westport recently, looking for high skilled workers, paying good wages and pulled out because they couldn't get the people? Pretty sure one of you lads were offered a job with them?

Yeah, I was offered a position.

Avns1s

godskitchen wrote: »

I like all your optimistic opinions but I still struggle to see any large multinational coming to castlebar without significant incentive. Of course by that I mean throwing money at them.

Chronic infrastructure and the dead hand over knock airport will mean it doesn't matter how good the life style here is.

Wasn't there a company in Westport recently, looking for high skilled workers, paying good wages and pulled out because they couldn't get the people? Pretty sure one of you lads were offered a job with them?

Hopefully the zone around knock can kick things into action but I have serious doubts.

Thankfully it's not just "optimistic opinions". It's my first hand experience and within the last 3 months too.

We need to look at things a slightly different way. Instead of taking the parochial view, just think, what's a reasonable commute to say, Knock Airport. Realistically, something up to an hour is doable for most people.
So shade in the area on the map that's within the hours commute of Knock Airport and it'll take in almost all of Mayo, part of Galway including the north of Galway city, almost all of Sligo including Sligo town, Most of Roscommon and a fair chunk of Leitrim. I haven't sat and worked out the actual figures but a reasoned estimate would be that you have circa 400K population. Plus you have a huge diaspora, a significant portion of whom would love to come back if they had the opportunity.

Now, take some area in Dublin, which people think there would be no difficulty filling any number of jobs in any kind of industry. Again, shade in the area that is within an hours commute. I reckon you'll find that the numbers won't be any bigger than the hours commute around Knock Airport.

One thing for sure, if it takes you 30 mins to get to Knock Airport from your home today, it'll take you 30 mins every other day too, and 30 mins to get home in the evening. If it takes you 30 mins to get from home to your place of employment in Dublin, it could be 85 mins tomorrow, because a midge farted on the M50. Absolutely, there's a positive quality of life perspective in favour of rural locations. Why do we always feel the need to talk ourselves down!

naughto

You would think having enda as the top dog would have helped but in fact it looks like it did the opposite.
Have done IT courses in the gmit and the equipment they have to use is pre 2000 they are in very much in need to update
Cos when you go go out in to the real world all the technology is totally different
And it's like starting again.

Lukekul

naughto wrote: »

You would think having enda as the top dog would have helped but in fact it looks like it did the opposite.

If Michael Ring was taoiseach Westport would probably have a luas

oscarBravo

Lukekul wrote: »

If Michael Ring was taoiseach Westport would probably have a luas

Pfft. We've already got one.

yop

oscarBravo wrote: »

Pfft. We've already got one.

And I passed that in Islandeady at 6.15am this morning!! With no bloody lights!

oscarBravo

yop wrote: »

And I passed that in Islandeady at 6.15am this morning!! With no bloody lights!

Wow, it's been promoted to intercity duty!

maudgonner

oscarBravo wrote: »

Wow, it's been promoted to intercity duty!

It was probably heading to Knock airport. Metro West (very, very West).

Lukekul

Seen the Yew Tree was stocking up today, must have sorted out the license.

iluvfatfrogs

Lukekul wrote: »

Seen the Yew Tree was stocking up today, must have sorted out the license.

They posted on Facebook that they might be open tonight

yop

maudgonner wrote: »

It was probably heading to Knock airport. Metro West (very, very West).

And met him coming into Westport then again last night

PARlance

Yew Tree opening tonight after all the red tape got cleared.

martyos121

PARlance wrote: »

Yew Tree opening tonight after all the red tape got cleared.

Best of luck to it. With Bridge St, The Ivy Tower and this all open in such a short space of time it's a great opportunity for the town to bring back jobs and customers. The Gin Trail should make it a busy weekend in town, not something I thought would do well to begin with but with all the promotion it's getting on social media it can't really fail.

statto25

martyos121 wrote: »

The Gin Trail should make it a busy weekend in town

Was that not last weekend?

Xenji

martyos121 wrote: »

Best of luck to it. With Bridge St, The Ivy Tower and this all open in such a short space of time it's a great opportunity for the town to bring back jobs and customers. The Gin Trail should make it a busy weekend in town, not something I thought would do well to begin with but with all the promotion it's getting on social media it can't really fail.

According to some publicans I was speaking to the Gin Trail was only supposed to be for last weekend and is up to their discretion after that, quite a few places only had one bottle of what was advertised in the booklet which I must say looks very well and ran out quite quickly on the Friday night.