Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
Business of Joint Committee
The Creative Economy: Discussion (Resumed)
1:30 pm
Mr. Patrick Walsh:
On the question of whether we are doing enough on our current scale, we have been open approximately 12 weeks and we are full. This reflects the fact that we are producing a large amount of these companies, IDA Ireland is doing a great job of getting them into the country and this is the kind of space they want. We need much more of this kind of space across Dublin and the regions. Advantages of facilities such as the chq include the integrated approach with food and other services. Ms McBride made a good point that companies come to this country because they can come into an area with great diversity in the arts and food. This follows into the point that there should be an integrated approach between what NAMA and the city councils are doing to work together in a very coherent and integrated policy. This is how we will succeed. One of the reasons Berlin is such a thriving digital economy is the fact that technology creators are sitting right beside content creators. This has produced some of the most exciting technology companies in the world, such as SoundCloud. We need much more of this space. We were fortunate that we found a visionary landlord. Other operators who are trying to bring on such facilities encounter much difficulty through issues of price or covenants. Although we seek to expand, it is challenging in the current commercial property market.
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