TWICE THE SIZE - DIT Update - Dublin Institute of Technology

Other features of the campus included the development of a sports centre containing a 50m
swimming pool and a cultural centre with cinema, theatre and art gallery.
Technology – Under the savvy leadership of the Industrial Development Authority, Galway
worked aggressively to attain foreign direct investment and promote its workforce to attract
leading high-tech companies through a policy of ‘industrialisation by incentivisation’. This
became apparent by 2015, with the celebrated opening of the Science and Technology Park in
Athenry, coupled with a smaller development in Oranmore. A number of international biopharmaceutical
companies placed the region on the map and over time, these areas formed the
Galway region economic corridor, which provided employment and a sense of belonging.
Tolerance – Both of these more traditional economic development efforts would not have
worked if Galway and its environs did not support and reinforce them with the third T,
tolerance. Long a conservative city, Galway has built upon its legacy of culture, art and music to
become a centre for bohemian expression and diverse milieu of scenes, lifestyles and people.
Today the streets are teemed with a mixture of people – from “cool” corporate chaps and
“geeky” tech savvy leaders to “edgy” alternative artists and musicians. In a remarkable fusion
of history and progressiveness, Ireland has turned cities like Galway into lifestyle Mecca’s for
dynamic creative people and those who want to be around such amenities.
By 2021, Galway city and a number of leading corporate villages, such as the Western Financial
Services Centre and the SME (small-medium enterprises) forum found innovative solutions to
planning, development and maintenance issues of Galway city. Consequently, this led to helping
to coordinate and facilitate the movement of the less-well off into regenerated areas and
provided support centres, called Priory Centres, for the unemployed and the homeless. Also,
there were renovations and reuses of existing, old and run-down buildings and rehabilitation of
historic buildings for loft, office and innovative retail uses. Additionally, another urban park was
built in 2016, a beautiful garden with a waterfall.
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From the three T’s model of
growth, ‘Sustainable
Employee Villages’ were set
up. For those unfamiliar,
these villages were created
to promote economic
development and
regeneration, preserve open
space and encourage a
greater sense of community.