With 135 pledges in Galway, Hireland surpasses target after just six months
Lucy Masterson, co-founder of Hireland.
By Declan Varley
Hireland announced this week that it has surpassed its original target of 5,000 job pledges in less than six months since its launch date. Of those pledges, more than 2,000 people have secured employment via the Hireland initiative with 135 of thse being in the Galway area.
Speaking today, Lucy Masterson, co-founder of Hireland said, “When we set off on this journey, we could never have imagined the extent of the support we have received from the Irish business community and the media industry. This truly is a people-powered movement which is being run on the goodwill of those with a can do attitude. Since its launch on January 16 this year, over 2,000 new people are taking home a weekly wage, which is just brilliant.”
At the time of the Hireland launch in January, Amárach Research conducted research among the small medium enterprise sector. One of the findings revealed that Irish employers were flip flopping around the decision about whether to hire, or not but encouragingly slightly more than half (52 per cent) plan to hire one or more new employees this year. With an injection of collective positivity, it would appear that Hireland’s message is being acted upon; Irish businesses all over country are taking on, so that Ireland can take off.
Hireland is now planning to develop a network of volunteers across the Republic of Ireland. Today marks the launch of ‘The County Call’ for volunteers.
“We believe that local communities have a passionate pride and self-belief. “The County Call” will harness this passion and add to the incredible results Hireland has already achieved – all we need is one person per county to help us kick-start the local movement. So we’re looking for one volunteer representative from each county who would act as the local Hireland lead,” says Lucy Masterson.
Those interested in getting involved as the local representative should log onto www.hireland.ie/yes-we-will for further details. Closing dates for receipt of applications is September 30 2012.*
