John Collins

The tax treatment of share options given to workers joining start-ups is a significant barrier to recruitment at a critical stage. It must be adjusted if new companies are to compete with multinationals for talent.

The recent revelations that the Arts Council and RTÉ both wrote down millions on large IT projects suggests that the lessons of the past with other failed State-led technology projects have still not been learnt.

Generating EU demand for the products of the bloc’s start-ups may be a good place to start, but a lot more is needed to make the European ecosystem less dependent on US venture capital.

The reversal of a decision to shut down the NDRC is the most visible aspect of a shift towards indigenous start-ups and scale-ups in the Programme for Government, despite a lack of other concrete details.

Dublin is the seventh-biggest tech hub in Europe when ranked by capital invested in start-ups over the ten years to 2024, although the almost $7 billion deployed here is dwarfed by London’s $100 billion-plus.

Irish entrepreneurs look jealously to the UK and the SEIS/EIS tax incentives which have helped create a thriving angel investment community. Some are even setting up British subsidiaries to take advantage of that funding.

Budget 2025 broadened tax incentives to get more individuals to invest in early-stage companies. Yet what the sector really needs is a reduction in complexity.

Restricting kernel access might seem like a quick and dirty fix to prevent similar incidents in the future. Apple did this for its operating system in 2020 but experts in the area are not so sure. 

Without significant improvements that make remote work more than a never-ending series of 30 minute video calls, WeWork will likely have plenty of customers willing to battle the commute for a bit of in-real-life face time. 

Tented communities. The removal of cultural hubs. Record commercial property vacancy rates. The word in tech circles was that San Francisco was finished. But it has bounced back. Dublin should learn the lessons of how it is reclaiming its throne.