Digitalisation & Rural Ireland - The Figures - 96% of SMEs are Micro with fewer than 10 employees and by business demography are the largest form of business unit in rural counties (source - Seanad Public Consultation Committee Report on Small and Medium Sized Businesses in Ireland 2019).

This guest post was written by our Project Director as part of our involvement in the Department of Rural & Community Development Awareness Raising initiatives for Social Enterprise (ARISE) Scheme.

"So are they the future, or a potential white elephant? The answer is closer to the first but they have been a bit of a slow burn." Personally I feel we really need to reframe the debate about hubs.

The .IE Digital Town Awards took place yesterday with awards for 7 categories to address digital enhancement and adoption in Ireland.

It's the old adage, you wait ages for a bus and then 2 come at the same time! Last week saw the Government release its long awaited National Digital Strategy

This question came into my mind as I read Simon Carswell's article in the The Irish Times today, hopelessness is the currency of the media's narrative about Ireland's towns.

Thanks to ThinkBusiness for an excellent article covering our mission and impact report for 2020, please see the article here - https://www.thinkbusiness.ie/articles/towns-small-busineses-digitalhq-impact-report/

Many thanks to ThinkBusiness for a great overview of how our DigitalHQ hub serves Dún Laoghaire Town.

In response to an article in the Irish Times ( Dún Laoghaire's continuing failure to reinvent itself ) we felt motivated to write the following letter which, as yet, the Irish Times has not published.