Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

How tech firms outside Dublin are luring staff away from the capital

Companies in Cork, Limerick and Galway are targeting workers increasingly priced out of Ireland’s main city.

OFTEN PRESENTED AS the jewel in the crown of Ireland’s technology sector, Dublin and its Silicon Docks are losing some of their lure.

While the capital has successfully attracted virtually all of the world’s biggest tech companies, snowballing cost-of-living pressures – mainly due the city’s acute housing shortage – are acting as a brake on firms’ ability to attract staff.

“I personally feel Dublin is overheating a little bit,” says Ronan Murphy, chief executive of Cork-based cybersecurity firm Smarttech.

“If you look at the amount of buildings and office space being built, there is not the same amount of housing to accommodate them.

“When I look at our business, it would be more convenient for me to be based in Dublin, but my entire cost base would skyrocket because the cost of living is so high.”

Previously, Fora reported on how international tech recruiters were facing the challenge of pitching Ireland’s biggest city as a great place to work amid spiralling rental costs.

But it appears Dublin employers may also face fierce competition from companies based in the country’s other major cities.

New data compiled for Fora by jobs website Indeed indicates there has been an increasing number of Dublin-based workers browsing listings for tech jobs in Cork, Galway and Limerick over the past three years.

Since January 2015, there has been a 70% increase in Dublin-based workers looking at tech jobs in Galway, a 53% increase in people looking at similar roles in Cork and 45% increase for Limerick jobs searches.

silicon docks map Dublin's Silicon Docks Smart Docklands Smart Docklands

Last year, a report from recruitment giant Morgan McKinley also noted that more jobseekers are specifying to recruiters that they are looking for a opportunities outside Dublin.

The apparent eagerness from candidates for opportunities outside the capital – both among Irish-based workers and those coming into the country for work – is something tech firms in the smaller cities are keen to capitalise on.

“Over here in our company, we have a few different sources of talent,” says Barry O’Sullivan, the chief executive of Galway-based customer analytics firm Altocloud.

“We have a big AI research centre in the university and we get a lot of PhDs out of there.

Another source then is what we call ‘escapers’. That represents the people in tech companies in Dublin, not all Irish, who want to move to the west and who are looking for a nicer life and more disposable income.

O’Sullivan says that nearly a third of his company’s 25 employees fall into that “escapers” bracket.

Leaving Dublin

The theme among workers looking to leave Dublin is often the same – a feeling of slowly being priced out, fuelling a desire to relocate to cities where the cost to either rent or buy a home can be less than half that in the capital.

Earlier this month, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar suggested leaving the country to save for a mortgage is an option for young people, but O’Sullivan says they should go west instead.

“The salary is roughly equal, but the cost of living is a lot lower in terms of renting and so on.”

2017-q4-rental-4 Daft.ie Daft.ie

Click here for a larger version

Eventbrite’s Cork site lead, Amanda Darmody, says she finds many people the firm interviews are looking for a “lifestyle change”.

“I think people are starting to look at things differently. They are looking at lifestyle and making a decision based on what kind of life they want to have,” she says.

They like that Cork is a compact city, it’s very easy to get around and everything is on your doorstep. You don’t have to go very far to be out of the city as well.

She adds that Dublin-based interviewees talk about finding it increasingly hard to get around the capital as traffic snarls and long bus commutes are compounded with changes like the recent launch of the Luas Cross City project.

Another Cork-based tech firm, Teamwork, is also trying to lure workers looking for a better lifestyle and a different culture to that found in a larger, corporate setting.

“I’m seeing that people want to move away from multinationals and go into a startup vibe we have,” says Teamwork recruiter TJ Leahy.

“We’re owned by two software developers, so it’s not a corporate environment at all. I think people appreciate that.

So instead of working in a formal role, you can come and work for us and work your own hours essentially, you don’t need to be in the office nine to five.

At the Limerick office for medtech company Cook Medical, HR manager Carla DiBenedetto has been finding a steady stream of people who come from the region looking to leave Dublin now that there are local work opportunities on offer.

The average price of a three-bedroom semi-detached house in Dublin is now more than ten times the average household income in the capital Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

“We’re in talks with a candidate at the moment who is based in Dublin and she’s looking to relocate to Limerick is because she’s originally from here,” says DiBenedetto.

“Her family is from here and the cost of living in Dublin is very high and she would like to be able to settle down and buy a house. That’s what we’re seeing quite often.”

Perks and benefits

Nevertheless, it’s far from as simple as merely offering jobs and watching the candidates file in – many firms are also rolling out perks in order to attract staff.

Eventbrite, which is looking to double its team in Cork, offers benefits that include €100 a month towards travel expenses, a €40 weekly Deliveroo credit and a €50 ‘wellness reimbursement’.

“They are practical benefits, things people really appreciate rather than just throwing benefits at people,” Darmody says.

“It’s just to make things a little bit easier.

“Everyone has health insurance and a pension as well. And we give more time off so staff can strike the right work-life balance – 25 days plus bank holidays, which is 34 days in total.”

Over in Galway, O’Sullivan’s Altocloud is also going the extra mile to get staff to consider a move to the west.

“We’re a startup, we give everyone shares in the company, and the idea is if some day in the future we sell for a lot of money, everyone would make a lot of money as well.

But we don’t compete with the big multinationals on perks, we don’t have pool tables or free food or anything like that.

eventbrite 1 Eventbrite Eventbrite

It’s a different approach again for Smarttech in Cork, where Murphy says the focus is on the quality of work for any prospective hires.

We pay well and it’s an enjoyable work environment. But we also work with some of the most sophisticated tech on planet earth. There is not a lot of people doing what we do.

“For example, we were the first company globally to work with IBM Watson for cybersecurity. So if you wanted to work with Watson, you could go to IBM in Atlanta or you could come to us in Cork.

“We find a lot of cyber security professionals want the quality of work. The guys we’re working with don’t have any interest in foosball or pool tables, they want to work at the coalface of cyber and see all the good, bad and the ugly.”

Problems

While lower cost of living is an easy pitch for firms outside Dublin, each of the second-tier cities have their own problems to overcome in attracting staff.

Limerick, for example, is still recovering from its poor image from previous years, according to Cook Medical’s DiBenedetto.

“Historically, Limerick probably didn’t have the best of reputations. There has been a lot of development in the city and it has undergone a transformation which has helped it shake that negative image of the city.

“It’s much more vibrant and there’s much more to do. A huge amount of new companies have set up their operations in the city as well, with a lot of new jobs being created.”

Many of the issues in Limerick, Cork and Galway are similar to those found in Dublin – congestion and a shortage of accommodation – just on a smaller scale.

Galway is suffering from at-times-severe traffic snarls, while Eventbrite’s Darmody says transport infrastructure in Cork also needs a lot of investment.

Sometimes it feels like you need a car to get around. A lot of the people we would be hiring are those who have landed here and they want to live in the city centre or somewhere accessible – they don’t want to need to invest in a car.

And, despite dramatically lower housing costs than Dublin, there remain issues in each of Cork, Galway and Limerick when it comes to housing.

Average asking prices for rental accommodation in all of the cities have risen more than 65% since the trough of the recession.

It’s a problem exacerbated by tech firms trying to outbid one another for the best recruits, according to Murphy of Smarttech.

“(Poaching staff) is going to drive up the cost of doing business and if you do that we become uncompetitive from an FDI (foreign direct investment) perspective.

“So you have a multiple-edged sword, there’s a housing crisis, congestion problem and then the cost-of-doing-business problem.”

Sign up to our newsletter to receive a regular digest of Fora’s top articles delivered to your inbox.

Written by Killian Woods and posted on Fora.ie

Written by Fora Staff and posted on TheJournal.ie

View 19 comments
Close
19 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Caoimhín O Neill
    Favourite Caoimhín O Neill
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 3:38 PM

    There should be no panic, but the ones say it’s only a flu should wake up. Education prevents unnecessary outbreaks.

    268
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Zhen Lao
    Favourite Zhen Lao
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 4:44 PM

    @Caoimhín O Neill: hope the health system can withstand it. 20% are in serious or critical condition …

    73
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Hughes
    Favourite Peter Hughes
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 4:56 PM

    @Zhen Lao: That is why this is so serious and some people don’t seem to get it. The flu is as bad but the vulnerable can get vaccinated against it. There is no vaccination for this so hospitals will be over run if it gets out of control……if it gets out of control you won’t get a bed in a hospital not a hope, you are then in the lap of the Gods.

    146
    See 5 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute DeWitt
    Favourite DeWitt
    Report
    Feb 28th 2020, 11:36 AM

    @Caoimhín O Neill: this is the new norm I suspect

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute GrassHopper
    Favourite GrassHopper
    Report
    Mar 1st 2020, 5:22 PM

    @Caoimhín O Neill: Roughly 650,000 people die every year world wide from the flu and that’s from a base of 5,000 000 being infected, 10% chance of death.
    Corona has roughly a 4% chance of death at the moment,
    You’re absolutely right though, there’s no reason to take it lightly, or help it spread giving it a chance to mutate.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Damo Dempsey
    Favourite Damo Dempsey
    Report
    Mar 1st 2020, 7:07 PM

    @GrassHopper: your stats are faulty. There are 5 million cases of infection alone in the US yearly. Fatality from seasonal flu is as low as 0.1%

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin
    Favourite Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin
    Report
    Mar 2nd 2020, 4:54 PM

    @GrassHopper: Your figures are way off

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paraic
    Favourite Paraic
    Report
    Mar 2nd 2020, 5:09 PM

    @GrassHopper: Only 5 million get infected by the flu because we have built up a reasonable degree of heard immunity and we have vaccines. There’s no reason why Covid19 will stop at 5 million infections.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fergus
    Favourite Fergus
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 5:09 PM

    @Stevo The Man On A Mission Returns: Thank you random stranger on the internet with your credible whatsapp group reference. You’ve made a very convincing case of which I can see now reason to doubt.

    108
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute DeWitt
    Favourite DeWitt
    Report
    Feb 28th 2020, 11:35 AM

    I am in Singapore and temperature testing is conducted in shops, restaurants hotels, etc. Having a national Id or passport linked to the logged temperature tests in a central database. The number of cured people is now outnumbering new cases. Very professional approach to the problem, they learned to prepare after getting caught unprepared for SARS. All office based companies are splitting their staff to different shifts and or office / home work.

    74
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ricky
    Favourite Ricky
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 3:37 PM

    Another hour, another Coronavirus article…

    55
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Johnny B
    Favourite Johnny B
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 3:42 PM

    @Ricky: they are really milking this story today. Must be a slow news day.

    47
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Très Bien
    Favourite Très Bien
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 4:24 PM

    @Johnny B: Yet, here you both are reading and commenting on it.

    129
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Furey
    Favourite Paul Furey
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 4:43 PM

    @Très Bien: and whinging :)

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Susan Adams Stuart-Williams
    Favourite Susan Adams Stuart-Williams
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 3:45 PM

    The symptoms could be any form of flu. Very vague. But then flu is a virus too. Can understand why many people might go undetected.

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute wanted to talk science, not politics
    Favourite wanted to talk science, not politics
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 6:50 PM

    @Stevo The Man On A Mission Returns: ebola or covid-19? I couldn’t tell with such clinical detail from WhatsApp. That being said, I don’t think the same country that currently has 2 people at a desk at Dublin airport (who look like they’re trying to collect for a sponsored walk) could lock down anything.

    45
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan
    Favourite Alan
    Report
    Feb 28th 2020, 11:06 AM

    I feel like this most days!

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ní Cheapim
    Favourite Ní Cheapim
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 9:43 PM

    We’ll be grand. We’ll just get former Junior Minister Joe Jacob to roll out his iodine tablets, just like he was planning to do in response to the Chernobyl fallout.

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute NotMyIreland
    Favourite NotMyIreland
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 3:49 PM

    And now it seems you can get it twice?

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Caoimhín O Neill
    Favourite Caoimhín O Neill
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 3:54 PM

    @NotMyIreland: whether people are recovered or not is the question..

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute NotMyIreland
    Favourite NotMyIreland
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 4:04 PM

    @Caoimhín O Neill: I dont know they seemingly had recovered and tested negative at the start of February but tested positive again 2 weeks later?

    17
    See 4 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Caoimhín O Neill
    Favourite Caoimhín O Neill
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 4:07 PM

    @NotMyIreland: yes, so unanswered questions..

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Caoimhín O Neill
    Favourite Caoimhín O Neill
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 4:12 PM

    @Caoimhín O Neill: so many*

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tim Adams
    Favourite Tim Adams
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 5:02 PM

    @Caoimhín O Neill: the tests are fairly unreliable, I saw an accuracy rate of between 40 to 50%. So people have to be tested four or five times to get an accurate result and even then it’s not a done deal

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul O Mahony
    Favourite Paul O Mahony
    Report
    Feb 28th 2020, 7:30 AM

    @NotMyIreland: you can get flu multiple times.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sam Cairns
    Favourite Sam Cairns
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 3:43 PM

    Since it started I have been glued to twitter, scary stuff.

    Take a look at BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk): https://twitter.com/BNODesk?s=09

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jonathan Morgan
    Favourite Jonathan Morgan
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 9:56 PM

    @Sam Cairns: maybe watch “medcram” or “Dr. John Campbell” on YouTube instead. More informative. Also keep an eye on the John Hopkins data page which is updated every 6 hours.

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute PeterC
    Favourite PeterC
    Report
    Mar 1st 2020, 12:37 PM

    @Stevo The Man On A Mission Returns: Interesting. I’ve also just received a very credible email from a Nigerian prince who needs to transfer a huge inheritance payment out of the country – he said he would split it with me if I help him with the transfer. Just about to send him my bank details, cant believe my luck!

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seán Corcoran
    Favourite Seán Corcoran
    Report
    Mar 1st 2020, 11:54 AM

    Can’t wait to get the dart to work next week

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute MitchConnor
    Favourite MitchConnor
    Report
    Feb 28th 2020, 11:35 AM

    Stat at home and die alone. All the best. Government.

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute De Rossi
    Favourite De Rossi
    Report
    Mar 1st 2020, 12:37 PM

    @MitchConnor: in addition, if you have come from an infected area, continue as normal until you offically are diagnosed and have risked spreading it

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Shawn O'Ceallaghan
    Favourite Shawn O'Ceallaghan
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 4:59 PM

    How do you spot the difference between covid and flu

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jonathan Morgan
    Favourite Jonathan Morgan
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 9:56 PM

    @Shawn O’Ceallaghan: severity really. Covid19 doesn’t cause sneezing it appears

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin
    Favourite Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin
    Report
    Mar 2nd 2020, 6:51 PM

    @Jonathan Morgan: It is possible to have both Covid-19 and flu concurrently so sneezing shouldn’t be seen as an indicator that Covid-12 isn’t present in individuals exposed to the virus.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stevo The Man On A Mission Returns
    Favourite Stevo The Man On A Mission Returns
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 5:59 PM

    @Andi O Donoghue: positive confirmed! The end is nigh!

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Byrne
    Favourite John Byrne
    Report
    Feb 28th 2020, 12:26 PM

    Keep milking it journal

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stevo The Man On A Mission Returns
    Favourite Stevo The Man On A Mission Returns
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 5:10 PM

    @Fergus: you’re welcome.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jim Buckley Barrett
    Favourite Jim Buckley Barrett
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 4:36 PM

    @Stevo The Man On A Mission Returns: quick run

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute S.Inging
    Favourite S.Inging
    Report
    Mar 2nd 2020, 5:00 PM

    Just curious, what are the legal powers to detain a person in quarantine? And how could that be carried out?

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Andi O Donoghue
    Favourite Andi O Donoghue
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 5:49 PM

    @Stevo The Man On A Mission Returns: is that ppl positive or being tested?

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rosa Lopez
    Favourite Rosa Lopez
    Report
    Mar 2nd 2020, 4:21 PM

    And meanwhile selfish parasites buying masks in bulk and selling them for triple the price in differents sites. Advert.ie and marketplace in facebook among them.
    This should be made iligal at this point.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Anthony Christoper Mc Garth
    Favourite Anthony Christoper Mc Garth
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 4:20 PM

    F*** All I wanna know bout it…

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Andi O Donoghue
    Favourite Andi O Donoghue
    Report
    Feb 27th 2020, 5:51 PM

    @Stevo The Man On A Mission Returns: is that positive or tested?

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel