Mr. Patrick Walsh:

The creation of co-working spaces is crucial for supporting the continued growth of early stage innovation and the creative economy in Ireland. The Irish technology landscape has now evolved to the point that the presence of more of this type of space, which offers flexible terms and a vibrant community of like-minded people, is an absolute requirement to meet the needs of this burgeoning industry.

The Government should view the development of this vital infrastructure as strategically important as it seeks to position itself as the leading digital economy in Europe.

The technology industry in Ireland is booming and the scale of the Government's ambition in job creation in this sector in particular is significant. The national policy statement on entrepreneurship was launched in late 2014, with the goal of creating 93,000 new jobs from domestic Irish start-ups. In February 2015, IDA Ireland set the goal of creating 80,000 new foreign direct investment jobs over the next five years. The Entrepreneurship in Ireland report highlighted the creation of co-working spaces as an important part of the equation in the new digital economy and job creation. Most recently the new international financial services 2020 strategy for the IFSC, launched by the Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, specifically calls for such a space which would serve to be the centre of the emerging fintech industry in Ireland which focuses on financial services. Therefore, it is important that the Government fully understands what these spaces are and what role the Government should play in ensuring an adequate supply of them exists as it seeks to achieve these ambitious goals of job creation in the sector.

Dogpatch is a co-working space in the historic chq Building in the Dublin docklands IFSC area. It relocated there earlier this year following an agreement with the chq Building's owner, Neville Isdell, the former chairman and CEO of the Coca-Cola company. In Neville Isdell, along with Mervyn Green, we were extremely fortunate to have found a visionary landlord who recognises the importance of type of space in our innovation economy.

Throughout its history Dogpatch has housed many of Ireland's fastest growing and most exciting technology companies. Today it has a mix of Enterprise Ireland-backed high potential start-ups and IDA-backed international companies which are scaling operations in Europe for the first time. As well as this, leading investors and others have access to the facility via our membership programme. It is a place that facilitates a wide range of players throughout the industry. From an FDI perspective, providing a clear and compelling landing zone that enables them to instantly set up in Ireland and plug into the tech ecosystem is an important part of the value proposition and helps to streamline the FDI process. This mix of indigenous companies and international teams sitting beside each other at Dogpatch has proven to be very synergistic. Irish start-ups are exposed to teams from places such as San Francisco and this open and social environment offered by the co-working space helps to accelerate the process by which these international teams strike up friendships and put down roots in Ireland.

Co-working spaces enable companies to rent on a very simple and flexible per desk per month rate. In addition, they offer a vibrant community that includes events and education. As part of its community outreach and social responsibility commitment we and the chq Building house CoderDojo, an Irish created volunteer-led and now global movement of free coding clubs for young people. These extra elements are important parts of what leads to a vibrant hotspot of innovation and jobs creation. With the price of real estate in Ireland increasing rapidly there is growing concern throughout the industry about the lack of supply of this type of office space in the market. This presents a significant challenge for Irish start-ups and has created concerns about Ireland's competitiveness in attracting foreign direct investment companies to Ireland. While developments are in the pipeline many of these are years away from completion and in the intervening time we face fierce competition from competitor cities in Europe, some of which either have an abundance of supply already or are launching large-scale initiatives to address this particular issue.

What can be done to tackle this important issue? In Dublin the commissioner for start-ups has called for the formation of a working group representing all sides of this discussion, from NAMA to Dublin City Council and members of the private sector. I have been asked to be one of the leaders of the group. One of the many objectives will be to explore the role the Government and local authorities can play in addressing this issue. Some details of the group were published for the first time today. While it has a Dublin focus we can share our learnings with various regions in Ireland so that together we can tackle this important challenge and continue to position ourselves as the leading digital economy in Europe.