Today, we had the pleasure of joining Dr. Kelly, a professor at Griffith College. We toured the financial district areas in downtown Dublin known as the “Google Docks.” Dr. Kelly spoke to the group about the history of business in Ireland and shared some of his own personal experiences in the ever-changing economic climate of the country. To sum it all up, “old Ireland” consisted of very few young people attending college due to lack of campuses as well as financial constraints. The government was witnessing a mass exodus of young and smart Irish people to pursue “unskilled” jobs in other countries due to lack of opportunities domestically. Therefore, they decided to offer massive tax breaks to companies if they were to set up an office in Ireland. This brought in large corporations like Facebook, Google, and many more, while simultaneously reforming the college system now that many jobs in business have arose. This led to the introduction of “New Ireland” which involved many Irish people pursuing degrees and landing jobs in business, while also gentrifying areas where laborers such as dock workers used to live, forcing them out. I found the cyclical nature of this quite interesting with immigrants coming in and filling these “unskilled” jobs now.
It is easy to pick out the areas of New Ireland vs Old Ireland in my experience exploring Dublin. Old Ireland is steeped in history and tradition. An example of this would be the massive following behind GAA sports and the sheer size of Croke Park. These games are part of Irish tradition where blue collar workers such as those who worked in the docks of Old Ireland would play these sports or root on their county. From the business side of things, Old Ireland simply did not have the variety of financial services nor the innovative tech companies to provide jobs to people, so many were forced into working low-paying blue collar jobs or emigration. One thing I found particularly interesting was, in a building located in the midst of the financial section, The Irish Emigration Museum, which seems fitting regarding the implication of the boom of financial service industry in Dublin.
These buildings along with the tech industries in the “Google Docks” would be what I consider new Ireland: striving for creativity and innovation. The growth of technology has advanced Ireland as a nation and overall created a massive positive impact on the economy. It was astonishing to see innovations at Microsoft and how a multinational company like them can contribute so much to Ireland’s economy.
Another company who are doing innovative and creative things in Dublin is Thinkhouse. Thinkhouse is an advertising firm that specializes in creating content to target the younger generation. They create eye catching advertisements and promote the growth of “New Ireland” by targeting new brands who drive environmental and social change in the world. An example of this would be their work with Tony’s Chocolonely, a candy company who challenges unethical production of chocolate in the world and strives for a change. They also bridge the gap between old Ireland and new Ireland in many ways. An example of this is through there work with Jameson. Jameson has been around since the 1700s and would undoubtedly be considered a part of Irish history and tradition within “Old Ireland”. Thinkhouse ran a campaign highlighting female distillers from Jameson by asking them personal and cultural questions which gives new life to the brand and appeals to the younger generation while also fueling the constant innovation in “New Ireland”. On a personal level, I really enjoyed this site visit as advertising agencies have always been a potential career interest for me, and to see how Thinkhouse captures the fun energy of the youth while consistently pumping out eye catching content was inspiring to me and would definitely be a place I would like to work.
In the end, it was interesting to see how Ireland acts as a gateway to the rest of the world through the increase of innovation in Dublin. I was not aware about how advanced “New Ireland” was and was really shocked to hear things like how influencer marketing has been happening in Ireland for much longer than the US, as well as all of the innovative technology such as the AR headset we witnessed at Microsoft.