eir to live stream Ireland’s Edge Conference from Dingle, as event reaches attendee capacity.

The Ireland’s Edge conference, which takes place in Dingle this coming Friday December 2 and Saturday December 3, as part of the eir Other Voices Festival, has reached attendee capacity. With keynote speakers from the IDA, Intel and leaders from Ireland’s arts community set to take part, eir has announced it will live stream the conference for those who cannot attend. The stream will be hosted on the eir Other Voices website and will be accessible to a global audience.

This, the second Ireland’s Edge conference, was announced by An Taoiseach Mr Enda Kenny in early November. It is a gathering of national and international policy makers, business leaders, innovators, artists and politicians, coming together to discuss and debate the intersection of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) with the world of Arts (STEAM) and how Ireland is uniquely positioned as the convergence point for this meeting of disciplines. Contributors will include Dr. Genevieve Bell – Intel Fellow, Eamonn Sinnott – Vice President and General Manager at Intel Ireland, Martin Shanahan – CEO of IDA Ireland, Carolan Lennon – MD at open eir, as well as many leading academics, broadcasters, creatives and performers.

Philip King, founder of Other Voices and conference organiser, paid tribute to eir for supporting and enabling the Festival: “Dingle will see, for the first time, the true power of high speed broadband through the eir Other Voices Festival. Some 7000 metres of fibre has been installed around Dingle, with 400 homes and businesses connected to the network, and capacity to connect many more. For the eir Other Voices Festival, our partners are enabling 12 venues to live stream all the performances from the tiny St. James’ Church in the heart of Dingle. The Church could never facilitate the thousands of music fans who make the journey and now eir has enabled us to bring the live performances beyond the Church walls and into the bars and restaurants of Dingle. On top of this, eir’s fibre broadband has now facilitated the live streaming of the Ireland’s Edge conference through the Other Voices website. This opens our gathering out to a global audience. We’ve had wide interest from the diaspora and now our discussion and debate can be accessed across the world.”

eir is providing over a dozen free wi-fi hotspots around Dingle, and live streaming musical events to several venues, through its fibre broadband network. eir will also be commencing the rollout of fibre along the Dingle Peninsula over the next 12 months to homes, businesses and farms in areas such as Fionn Tra and Ballyferriter, with 1000Megabit/1 Gigabit broadband.

Carolan Lennon, Managing Director open eir, said the company is investing over €21M in upgrading Kerry’s broadband network. “We have already enabled dozens of communities across the county and are now beginning our rollout of fibre to thousands of homes in very rural areas of Kerry with 1000Megabit broadband. These broadband speeds are typically only available in large cities and we are very excited about the potential of our fibre rollout to transform rural Ireland, from the way people work in homes, offices and farms, to how they learn, communicate and entertain.”

The Ireland’s Edge conference will feature a host of discussions and performances including a keynote address by Intel Fellow and Director of User Interaction and Experience and former lecturer in Anthropology and Native American Studies at Stanford University, Dr. Genevieve Bell; a review of the 2016 celebrations and the evolution of the understanding of the Rising and the future of the 2016 Legacy Projects now in planning, with Professor of Modern Irish History UCD, author and broadcaster, Diarmaid Ferriter and Director of Ireland 2016 John Concannon and journalist and author Una Mullally; discussions on how the creativity of the Irish provides the country with a unique competitive advantage internationally with Eamonn Sinnott, VP and GM at Intel Ireland and Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland, Ann O’Dea, CEO Silicon Republic and musician Caoimhín O’Raghallaigh; discourse around 21st century emigration, the Irish diaspora and the emerging drivers of cultural identity for the Irish overseas with broadcaster and DJ, Annie Mac and Senior Editor, News at CNN Digital International Blathnaid Healy. There will be performances from Collapsing Horse Theatre Company, excerpts from Zoe Philpott’s Ada.Ada.Ada. and much more.

Dingle in December has long been a pilgrimage for the best and brightest in Irish and international music, journeying from across the world to take part in the eir Other Voices Festival. With the addition of Ireland’s Edge to the programme, the Festival now expands that creative space to embrace thinkers, creators and leaders from the worlds of culture, politics and enterprise, a unique collision of different worlds and new voices.