Creative Spark Downtown Hub officially opened its doors to local remote workers, start-up entrepreneurs and established businesses in Dundalk’s vibrant town centre today.

The Creative Spark team was delighted to welcome Minister Damien English TD to officially launch its new venture, the Downtown Hub.

The new Downtown Hub is located in the old Cumiskey’s building in Clanbrassil Street, with 42 affordable desk plans, meeting rooms, a podcasting studio and space for community events. The Downtown Hub’s mission is to enhance the start-up and business support ecosystem in the region and create an exemplar remote working infrastructure.

Located at a midway point between Dublin and Belfast and aligned with the M1 Corridor, the Downtown Hub will also seek to develop cross-border linkages to sustain attractive urban locations from which to drive enterprise activity in the region. 

The new Creative Spark Downtown Hub is funded by Enterprise Ireland through the Border Enterprise Development Fund (BEDF) awarded to projects focused on supporting international competitiveness of enterprise in the Border region. Creative Spark is also very thankful for additional support provided by Louth County Council, Dundalk Credit Union, Oriel Hub and Dundalk BIDs.

The event was also attended by local representatives and supporters of the project.

Officially launching the Downtown Hub Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English, TD, said, “I am delighted to open the Creative Spark Downtown Hub, a great new facility located in the heart of Dundalk town.  This wonderful asset will go from strength-to-strength and support local jobs and enterprise development for years to come. Today’s event is the culmination of a huge amount of work by the team at Creative Spark and I am proud that my Department, through Enterprise Ireland, has given significant support to this project under the €17m Border Enterprise Development Fund.  

“Supporting balanced regional development, especially in the Border region, is a priority for this Government. The facilities now available for start-ups, entrepreneurs and remote workers at Creative Spark Downtown shows the enormous impact this funding can make.”

Speaking at the launch, Creative Spark Downtown Hub Manager Ciara Breen said, “It’s really exciting to finally be able to show off our new hub, we have had a lot of interest and I can’t wait to welcome our new members and support them going forward.”

This is echoed by Michael Farrell, Chair of Creative Spark CLG who said, “The launch of the Downtown Hub is a key element of our strategic vison for Creative Spark which proposes significant growth in both the physical footprint and ambition of Creative Spark, ensuring our social impact through greater social inclusion, supporting enterprise and employment.”

Stephen Creaner, Executive Director, Enterprise Ireland said “The Creative Spark Downtown Hub has been supported by the Government’s Border Enterprise Development Fund administered by Enterprise Ireland, which provides support for collaborative, enterprise capability building projects, to advance entrepreneurship, productivity and innovation in the Border Region. We in Enterprise Ireland would like to congratulate to Creative Spark and all the stakeholders in this project which will enhance the start-up and business ecosystem in the town, promoting the concept of co-working which is aligned to Enterprise Ireland’s ‘Powering the Regions’ plan”.