Tech leaders shine a light on homelessness by sleeping rough

Last night temperatures in Dublin City fell to 9 °C with 15Km/h winds but that didn’t stop dozens of Ireland’s international and national technology leaders from sleeping out under the stars to raise awareness of homelessness in Ireland.

The Shine a Light event took place in the Iveagh Gardens with the aim of raising €5,000 in sponsorship in aid of Focus Ireland, the Irish charity which works to help people from becoming, remaining, or returning to homelessness.

Donations can still be made on the Shine a Light website.

The list of 60 high-profile participants reads like a who’s-who of the technology sector in Ireland; including founders from some of the country’s most prominent digital agencies, to representatives of some of major international companies, such as Google, Microsoft, and Dell.

Amongst them was Niall Harbison, the founder of Simply Zesty; Tracy Glynn the Head of Corporate Marketing of Realex Payments; Gerry Jones a partner with Executive Venture Partners; Microsoft’s Sales Director Martin Cullen; Martin Casey the Managing Director of Arekibo Digital; Ronan Harris the Director of Google Ireland; Ann O’Dea the CEO of Silicon Republic; Dermot O’Connell the General Manager of Dell Ireland; Brian MacCraith the President of Dublin City University; and Joan Mulvihill the CEO of the Irish Internet Association.

We spoke to Martin Casey, the co-founder and Managing Director of Arekibo at 1 o’clock this morning and he said it was a privilege to take part but it would be terrible to even consider homelessness as a long-term reality.

Here’s what some of the participants tweeted throughout the night.

Featured image by @buyersagentltd