Applications for Home Energy Upgrades up 96% in 2026
Ireland’s National Residential Retrofit Plan, backed by a record €640 million (≈$698 million) budget, is driving a surge in home‑energy upgrades. In Q1 2026, applications for individual upgrades jumped 186% year‑on‑year, and total applications rose 96%, with SEAI processing 29,000 requests. The government aims to complete 73,000 upgrades this year, targeting windows, doors, insulation and heat‑pump installations. The initiative is part of a broader effort to improve energy affordability, security and sustainability across Irish households.
EirGrid Announces Procurement Package for Irish Offshore Wind
EirGrid announced a procurement package valued at over €100 million (approximately $110 million) for the Powering Up Offshore – South Coast Tonn Nua Substation project. The package includes design, fabrication, installation and commissioning of offshore substations and related high‑voltage equipment. It is...
Reforma Announced as the Winner of the Inaugural Stripe Business Bootcamp
Reforma’s reusable crumple‑zone project won Best Group at the inaugural Stripe Business Bootcamp, a week‑long accelerator run with NovaUCD. The team—Eve Kennedy, Brian McCabe, Paddy Corcoran, Deepta Suresh and Rachel Coghlan—leveraged shape‑memory alloys to create vehicle crumple zones that absorb...
Winning Through People and Stories: Crafting Cultures of Change
Zoë Arden argues that modern organisations achieve lasting impact by prioritising people and the stories they tell rather than relying on rigid plans and polished PowerPoint decks. She cites neuroscience showing that narratives release dopamine and oxytocin, fostering trust, empathy...
ServiceNow and Google Cloud Unite AI Agents for Autonomous Enterprise Operations
ServiceNow and Google Cloud announced an expanded partnership at Google Cloud Next, introducing a suite of AI agents that can autonomously detect, diagnose and resolve enterprise issues across 5G networks, retail operations and IT systems. The solutions leverage Google’s Gemini...
Vodafone Ireland Announces Further €360 Million Investment as It Moves to New Dublin City Centre HQ
Vodafone Ireland announced an additional €360 million ($390 million) investment, adding €200 million ($218 million) for its mobile network and €160 million ($174 million) for digital and IT upgrades through 2030. The spend builds on a €500 million ($545 million) five‑year network programme and targets a smarter 5G‑ready...
NFT Trends to Watch, Erin Dragotto Director of Museum of Art & Light
The Museum of Art + Light (MoA+L) opened in Manhattan, Kansas in November 2024, featuring a 21,500‑sq‑ft, 188‑million‑pixel immersive projection space called The Mez. Executive Director Erin Dragotto, who brings over two decades of museum leadership, discussed the museum’s mission to...
The Countdown to Digitisation Is on… the Public Sector Needs to Be Ready
Ireland’s public sector is racing toward the Connecting Government 2030 goal that 90% of core services be delivered digitally by the end of the decade. The strategy highlights the need to replace legacy systems, unify fragmented platforms, and address resource...
1.5 Million Irish Homes and Businesses Gain Access to Full Fibre
Open eir, Ireland’s largest wholesale telecoms provider, announced that its fibre‑to‑the‑home (FTTH) network now reaches 1.5 million homes and businesses, covering more than 4 million people. The rollout has installed over 54,000 km of fibre and is backed by a €2 billion (≈$2.2 billion) multiyear...
Servecentric Cloud Solution Enabling Profitsflow to Double Customer Base
Servecentric, an Irish cloud and data‑centre provider, has rolled out a high‑performance hosting solution for Profitsflow’s ERP platform. The new service, anchored in Servecentric’s secure Irish data centre, promises to double Profitsflow’s customer base within the next year. By delivering...
New Irish Fast-Track Home Delivery Weight-Loss Service
Lloyds Online Doctor has launched a fast‑track home delivery option for weight‑loss prescriptions in Ireland. Eligible patients who complete an online clinical consultation can receive medication within 24‑48 hours, either at their door or from any pharmacy nationwide. The rollout responds...
Payslip and Deloitte Lead on the Acceleration of Global Pay Transparency Demands
Payslip, the global payroll control and AI firm, announced it now automates over 1.3 million payslips each year for clients in more than 125 countries, processing roughly €5 billion (about $5.4 billion) in payroll payments. The milestone coincides with the two‑year anniversary of...
Leadership Is Not What You Intend but What Others Experience, Ciaran Casey Author
Ciaran Casey’s upcoming book, *Leadership in Tune*, argues that leadership is not a personal trait but a relational experience that emerges when direction is recognized by others. He highlights a persistent gap between leaders’ good intentions and the actual employee...
AI: What Is the Neuroscience of Albert Einstein’s Brain and Human Intelligence?
A recent analysis of Albert Einstein’s brain reveals anatomical differences such as a thicker corpus callosum, an extra fold in the frontal lobe, and parietal lobes roughly 15% wider with a higher density of glial cells. Researchers argue these structural...
Longford County Council Opens for 2026 Business Incentive Scheme
Longford County Council has launched its 2026 Business Incentive Scheme, offering cash grants to businesses that occupy vacant commercial or industrial premises for at least six months. The grant equals 70% of the property’s commercial rates in year one, 50%...
Best Broadband Deals in Ireland – April 2026
Irish consumers can now compare a slate of April 2026 broadband offers through Switcher.ie, which highlights discounted contracts from eir, Vodafone, Virgin Media and Pure Telecom. The deals range from 100 Mb to 1 Gb speeds, with monthly fees as low as...
Paris Blockchain Week 2026: Four Things the Main Stage Didn’t Tell You
Paris Blockchain Week 2026 drew over 10,000 attendees, with banks such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan and EU ministers onstage, signaling a maturing European crypto ecosystem. Behind the polished narrative, participants learned that the EU is already planning a MiCA...
New National AI Facility Under €17 Million Research Ireland Investment
The Walton Institute at South East Technological University secured over €1 million (≈$1.1 million) as part of a €17 million (≈$18.5 million) national Research Ireland programme to build a new AI and high‑performance computing facility. The centre will expand the existing data‑centre capacity by...
The Digital God Doesn’t Run on Faith; It Runs on Water
AI’s rapid expansion is not just a software story; it rests on massive physical infrastructure that draws continuous power and millions of litres of water daily for cooling. The article highlights how efficiency gains lower per‑unit energy use but trigger...
NASA JPL, Ubotica and Open Cosmos Collaboration
Ubotica Technologies and Open Cosmos have partnered with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to launch the Flight Demonstration of Federated Autonomous MEasurement (FAME) under NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office. The program will initially test six satellites in summer 2026, eventually linking...
New Vodafone Research Highlights Growing Mobile Devices Security Concerns Among Irish SMEs
Vodafone’s latest Business Cybersecurity Report shows that 70% of Irish SMEs are increasingly worried about mobile‑device attacks, yet more than 40% let employees access corporate resources on personal phones without dedicated security controls. Mobile‑based threats now represent over 42% of...
Why OpenAI Foundation Should Focus on AI Psychosis, Delusion Not Grants
The OpenAI Foundation announced a plan to invest at least $1 billion in grants over the next year, a dramatic jump from the $7.6 million it disbursed in 2024 and the $40.5 million allocated through its People‑First AI Fund. Critics argue the foundation...
Switcher.ie Reveals Ireland’s Most Affordable Places for First Time Buyers as Deposit Saving Time Soars
Switcher.ie’s 2026 First‑Time Buyer Affordability Index shows the average Irish couple now needs 7 years 2 months to save a 10 % deposit, up from 4 years 7 months last year. Longford remains the most affordable county for joint buyers, with a deposit saved in just 2.3 years...
The EU AI Act Is Now in Force and Irish Companies Have Until August to Get Compliant
On August 2 2026 the EU AI Act’s core provisions become enforceable, imposing a full compliance regime for high‑risk AI systems. Irish firms, home to major tech headquarters and a vibrant AI startup scene, face penalties of up to €35 million ($38 million) or...
March Sees Almost 50% of Electricity Generated by Renewables with New Records for Grid Scale Solar
New provisional data from EirGrid shows that renewables supplied 49% of Ireland’s electricity in March, matching February’s 48% share. Wind remained dominant, providing 40% of the fuel mix and generating 1,258 GWh, while grid‑scale solar set a record 983 MW output, approaching...
Bitcoin Ireland Conference 2026 Returns, 22–25 May 2026
Bitcoin Ireland Conference returns to Dublin for its fifth edition, running May 22‑25, 2026. The four‑day, Bitcoin‑only event will host roughly 1,000 global participants, featuring keynotes, panels, workshops, and a private Satoshi VIP Pass day. Organizers emphasize high‑signal dialogue on...
Iarnród Éireann Travelers Can Now Pay with PayPal
Iarnród Éireann has integrated PayPal into its website and mobile app, allowing travelers to buy rail tickets using PayPal balances or linked funding sources. The move serves the operator’s 55 million annual passengers and targets both domestic and international customers. PayPal...
SIRO’s Full Fibre Broadband Network Passes 700,000 Premises
Broadband operator SIRO announced its full‑fibre network now reaches 700,000 premises, covering towns and cities in every Irish county. The rollout pushes Ireland past the 85% coverage mark, aligning with the national goal of a fully‑fibre country by 2028. Despite...
AI Is Able to Do Lots of Things Now Sean O’Grady, Lead Learning Designer and Deputy AI Futurist at the...
Sean O’Grady, Lead Learning Designer and Deputy AI Futurist at Imperial Business School’s IDEA Lab, is spearheading the creation of course‑specific AI avatar lecturers that act as digital twins of faculty. These bespoke AI chatbots are being piloted in the...
Connecting Bitcoin to Real World Assets, Insights with Wojciech Kaszycki
In an Irish Tech News interview, BTCS SA CSO Wojciech Kaszycki outlined how the Warsaw‑based Digital Asset Treasury Company uses Bitcoin as an anchor asset while generating yield through staking, validator operations and tokenized real‑world assets. The firm reported a...
Harnessing AI: Ireland Turns Ideas Into Action for EU Innovation Month
Ireland will launch the European AI Innovation Month on 14 October 2026 with an International AI Summit at Dublin’s RDS. The month‑long programme, running to 17 November, aims to accelerate applied artificial‑intelligence across the EU. The summit will spotlight sector‑specific AI use cases,...
Seeds of Bravery, €12M in Grants and 300+ Ukrainian Startups
The European Innovation Council’s Seeds of Bravery program wrapped up its 2.5‑year mission, channeling roughly €12.2 million (about $13.1 million) into 318 Ukrainian deep‑tech startups. Over 80 documented success stories emerged, and the initiative delivered market‑discovery workshops, demo days, and legal‑lab webinars...
Stegawave Debuts Real-Time Forensic Watermarking to Tackle Piracy in Live Sports Streaming
Irish firm Stegawave launched a real‑time forensic watermarking platform for live sports streaming. The solution embeds invisible watermarks into live feeds, enabling detection of illegal IPTV redistribution within minutes and allowing content owners to block source accounts. In a pilot...
Cork Airport to Deliver Ireland’s Largest Solar-Powered Carport
Cork Airport announced Ireland’s largest solar‑powered carport, a 1.7 MW structure with 3,696 photovoltaic panels slated for completion in August 2027. The carport will generate about 1.5 GWh of renewable electricity each year—roughly 20% of the airport’s power needs—and cut CO₂ emissions by...
The Cognitive Athlete: Sustainable Peak Performance for Leaders, Thinkers and Doers, Reviewed
Clint Rahe’s new book, The Cognitive Athlete, translates elite‑sport conditioning into a systematic guide for professionals seeking sustainable mental and emotional peak performance. Drawing on his RAF training background, Rahe outlines four cognitive phases—conditioning, transition, performance and recovery—backed by neuroscience...
OxygenCare Launches New Online Medical Device Shop – Easing Access to Hospital-Grade Breast Pumps Across Ireland
Irish medical‑equipment provider OxygenCare has unveiled a new online shop and rental platform, giving the island of Ireland exclusive access to Medela’s Symphony hospital‑grade breast pump. The service lets parents and healthcare providers rent or purchase the pump, with delivery...
The Emergence of Sustainable Orbital Data Center Infrastructure
The orbital data‑center market accelerated in 2025 when Canada’s PowerBank Corp. launched DeStarlink Genesis‑1, the first satellite in Orbit AI’s low‑Earth‑orbit cloud. U.S. hyperscale cloud providers are now exploring solar‑powered ODCs after an executive order and the DOE’s Genesis Mission...
Longford County Council Launches MyCoCo Online Payments Platform for Housing Rents
Longford County Council has launched MyCoCo, a secure online payments platform that lets local authority housing tenants pay rent digitally. The service joins existing options such as standing orders, telephone payments and cash‑desk transactions, giving tenants flexibility to pay anytime,...
New Consumer Protection Rules Will Make It Easier for Customers to Deal with Insurance Claims
The Central Bank’s revised Consumer Protection Code (CPC) took effect on March 24, 2026, introducing rules that make insurance claims and quoting more transparent for Irish consumers. A key change bans automatic renewal of travel, gadget, dental and pet policies unless customers...
Irish Businesses Explore Next Wave of AI Adoption at Dell Technologies Innovate
Dell Technologies hosted its Innovate event at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, drawing over 100 Irish technology leaders to discuss the next wave of AI adoption. The showcase, dubbed “Tech Rally Anywhere,” let attendees test Dell’s newly launched AI‑enabled PCs and...
Irish Entrepreneurship Defies Economic Headwinds as Start-Ups Surge 14% in Q1 2026
Irish start‑up registrations surged 14% in Q1 2026, reaching 7,263 new firms despite global inflation, high interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty. Growth was led by construction (+32%), community services (+23%) and manufacturing (+46%), while professional services saw a modest decline. Dublin...
Candidates Still Making the Same Interview Mistakes in 2026
Matrix Recruitment’s HR manager Breda Dooley warns that candidates in 2026 still repeat avoidable interview errors, from sloppy virtual setups to generic, rehearsed answers. She highlights three technical pitfalls—poor camera positioning, weak internet, and distracting backgrounds—that undermine remote interviews. Equally...
Shannon Chamber Conference Calls on HR to Lead in Era of AI and Change
The Shannon Chamber’s HR 2026+ conference in Dromoland highlighted a seismic shift in human resources driven by AI, new EU legislation, and economic uncertainty. Speakers emphasized that HR must move from a support role to a strategic engine, guiding AI...
Vertigo Treatment Start-Up Vertigenius Raises €2.55M and Enters US Market
Vertigenius, an Irish MedTech start‑up, closed a €2.55 million (~$2.8 million) funding round led by Atlantic Bridge to accelerate its U.S. rollout. The company’s wearable head‑sensor lets clinicians remotely monitor vertigo patients, cutting clinic visits and unlocking new insurance reimbursements. Since its...
Aoife O’Brien on Why People Leave, and What Good Leaders Do Differently
Aoife O’Brien, a former market‑research executive turned leadership consultant, launches her debut book Thriving Talent and the Happier at Work podcast to address why talent leaves and how leaders can retain it. Drawing on a master’s in organisational behaviour, she argues...
Logicalis Research Reveals 9 Out of 10 Global CIOs Admit to “Learning on the Go” When It Comes to AI
Logicalis’ new research of over 1,000 CIOs shows 89% are "learning on the go" with AI, indicating adoption outpaces organisational readiness. Two‑thirds worry about an AI bubble, while 88% cite internal skill gaps, data issues and cultural resistance as major...
Cooling Bracelet to Help Irish Women Battle Key Menopause Symptom
Irish engineer Aonghus O’Donovan has launched the MyCelsius cooling bracelet, a wrist‑worn device that drops skin temperature by 10 °C in under ten seconds. The wearable, entering the Irish market on April 7, targets menopausal hot flushes and claims an 80% efficacy...
The Word Cloud Is in Our Name Glenn Weinstein, CEO Cloudsmith
Cloudsmith, a Belfast‑based software‑artifact management platform, announced an oversubscribed Series B round in March, raising £18 million (approximately $23 million) from prominent investors. The funding will support the company’s expansion of its fully‑managed solution that secures, stores, and distributes software packages across cloud...
Irish Tourism Sector Under Spotlight as Fifty Shades Greener Unveils New Sustainability Event
Fifty Shades Greener, Ireland’s leading sustainability training provider, is hosting a new event, “Less Shades, More Action,” on 28 April at Dublin’s Mayson Hotel to spotlight the tourism sector’s carbon impact. The global tourism industry contributes 7.3 % of greenhouse‑gas emissions, and...
Profit in the Chaos: How Smarter Procurement Shields Companies in Turbulent Times
The article argues that rising geopolitical volatility has turned procurement into a strategic, risk‑management function rather than a back‑office cost‑center. Companies still rely on fragmented ERP, contract files, and spreadsheets, which leaves them vulnerable to sudden supplier disruptions, price spikes,...