Time to invest in the ideas of youth, says website pioneer

The founder of an on-line social media agency in Galway which reaches more than 500,000 young people around the world says job creation in Ireland is still possible despite the economic mess the country is in.

Ruairí McKiernan, who set-up the award-winning SpunOut.ie website seven years ago, says Ireland needs to stop waiting on others to come to our rescue and instead must focus on harnessing the energy, ideas and passion of the younger generation by putting the emphasis on providing concrete support to the start-up sector.

Speaking upon his return from a fundraising mission to Silicon Valley where he met with both start-up companies and well known industry leaders at Facebook and Google, he said there is no reason why we can’t create our own companies similar to those mentioned.

“There are thousands of people with innovative ideas and the skills, determination and passion to make great things happen. There’s no reason we can’t create our own Google, Facebook or Nokia, or to look beyond IT and truly become a world leader in green energy.

“To do this we need to stop depending on the needs of multinationals to determine our fate and truly believe in and support our own people.

“Our brightest and our best are starting to ship out once more to the benefit of the UK, Australia and Canada. It’s time that we stopped shedding crocodile tears and paying lip service to our young people, we need instead to offer real investment, equal opportunities and meaningful support to them,” he said.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.