Ireland’s most recent census tells us that Ireland’s inclusion picture is increasingly diverse and inclusive. Census 2022 data shows us that 1,109,557 people, or 22% of the population, have a long-lasting condition or disability to some extent. 8% experienced disability to a great extent or a lot, while Ireland’s disability employment rate of 49.3% compares with 70.8% for people without disabilities, leaving a 37.0% employment gap. For LGBTQ+ people, the best-supported Irish data shows 38% experienced discrimination in at least one area of life in the previous year, 59% often or always avoided holding hands with a same-sex partner, and 37% reported harassment.0%, Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi at 2%, and Black or Black Irish at 1%; and Irish Travellers make up up 6% of the overall population.
However, the market can be slow to respond to Ireland’s changing landscape. Whether it’s dolls that represent different people within the Irish population, products that empower people with disabilities, the LGBT community or female empowerment, here are just some of Ireland’s best products in DEI:
If you would prefer to view the information in a video format, please see here:
Founders: Matt McCann and Dónal McClean
Main Product: Mobile accessibility database application
Founded in 2015 by Matt McCann and co-founder Dónal McClean, Matt was frustrated at the lack of reliable accessibility information for his mobility stroller when travelling, Access Earth began as a crowdsourced mapping app covering over 110,000 public buildings, cafes, and shops. Where mainstream navigation tools fall short, it fills the gap with the practical detail that actually matters to people with disabilities: step-free entrances, accessible toilets, ramp availability, and dedicated parking. The company has since used that same data capability to identify over 170 previously unmapped accessible parking bays in the Sandyford Business District alone.
Access Earth has since evolved into a full disability and inclusion readiness platform.
Its Access Ready Platform now serves organisations looking to move beyond minimum compliance, offering certified building assessments, staff awareness training, accessibility policy alignment, and an interactive feedback system. What gives the company genuine credibility in this space is its foundation: Access Earth is explicitly disability-led, with a team that brings firsthand experience of the barriers their clients are trying to remove. That lived perspective, combined with a clear business case around ESG goals and the largely untapped accessible tourism and consumer market, makes it a distinctive voice in the corporate inclusion space.
Founders: Sarah Timony
Main Product: Accessible adaptability clothing for people with disabilities
the brainchild of Sarah Timony from Donegal Town, who spent over a decade working in the health sector and in respite care, where she witnessed firsthand the struggle people with disabilities faced in finding clothing that actually worked for them. Launched in 2020 and operating from Donegal Town, shipping worldwide, the brand produces clothing for men and women that is adapted with Velcro and magnetic fastenings in a way that is not obvious, keeping adaptations discreet while maintaining genuine style. The range spans men’s shirts, chinos, ladies’ blouses, dresses, trousers, and unisex joggers and sweatshirts.
Rather than buttons and zips, which can be difficult for people with arthritis, dementia, post-stroke conditions, Parkinson’s, and other disabilities, ADAPTAFASHION uses magnets and Velcro instead, with adaptations that are discreet and comfortable. The brand’s philosophy is straightforward: inclusive fashion is about giving people the power to choose what they want to wear, because the needs many people face are not their choice.
With Irish brand ambassador Nikki Bradley, an amputee and cancer survivor, and UK Paralympian Chloe Ball-Hopkins championing the range, ADAPTAFASHION has built a community around the idea that function and fashion should never be mutually exclusive.
Founded in 1977 by Dublin firefighter Willie Bermingham, after he discovered several older people dead in appalling conditions through his work, ALONE has grown from a grassroots community response into one of Ireland’s most significant charities for older people. The organisation works with one in five older people who are homeless, socially isolated, living in deprivation, or in crisis, and today operates with more than 9,000 volunteers delivering companionship, housing assistance, and coordination support. To extend that reach further, ALONE developed BConnect, a tech-enabled platform built in partnership with Netwell CASALA, designed to support older people to continue living independently for longer by keeping them linked in with support services, helping them self-monitor their health and activity, and ensuring they feel secure at home.
BWell brings together three integrated components. Each older person receives a tablet loaded with the BWell app, which includes a daily seven-question wellness check, alongside BHome smart home technology featuring a personal alarm and motion, temperature, and door sensors that flag any concerning changes.
Volunteers, meanwhile, use the BFriend app to log their visits, flag concerns or positive updates about the older person, and stay connected with other volunteers and upcoming events. Together, these tools create a joined-up safety net that connects older people, their families, volunteers, and health professionals through one shared system — a practical, preventative model for independent ageing that is built on ALONE’s nearly five-decade foundation of human-centred care.
Founders: Dr Jennifer O’Sullivan, Trinity College Dublin
Main Product: Game-based tablet screening application for early dyslexia detection
A spin-out of the Learnovate Centre at Trinity College Dublin, ALPACA was developed in partnership with the Marino Institute of Education to tackle a stubborn problem in primary education: by the time reading difficulties are identified, children have often already fallen behind. Current practice relies on time-consuming one-to-one paper-based assessments that can take up to 30 minutes per child, making whole-class screening impractical and leaving many children undetected until difficulties become entrenched. ALPACA replaces this with an evidence-based, game-based tool played on a tablet that gives early years teachers an effective and efficient way to catch potential literacy challenges at the onset of phonemic awareness, with each assessment taking around 20 minutes and completed at key points across each of the three school terms.
The platform consists of 12 early literacy tasks covering phonemic awareness, rhyming, and phoneme isolation alongside letter knowledge, generating individual and class-level reports that inform targeted intervention decisions. Principal investigator Dr Jennifer O’Sullivan emphasises that the tool focuses on prevention rather than remediation, identifying children who show evidence of future reading difficulties before they begin to formally read. The results so far speak to genuine demand: following a year-long pilot with 1,000 children across 30 schools in five countries, 90 per cent of pilot schools converted to paying customers, and a further 5,500 infants were subsequently screened across 100 schools in Ireland, the US, and the UAE.
Founders: Alan Craughwell
Main Product: Task-management app and NFC-enabled workplace support platform
AssistiV is an Irish technology company tackling one of the most stubborn gaps in the labour market: the persistent exclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities from sustainable paid work. Its screen-based technology simplifies complex workplace tasks into easy-to-follow picture, text, or audio clues, empowering individuals with learning or intellectual disabilities or autism to perform their roles independently and confidently to the correct standard. Accessible from any mobile device with an internet connection, the platform uses NFC-enabled stickers placed throughout the workplace, so that tapping a sticker at a specific location or piece of equipment immediately surfaces the relevant task prompt, turning a potentially overwhelming environment into a navigable one
The impact so far is tangible. At its national rollout launch, 18 people were already using AssistiV in hospitality roles and a further 20 in retail and manufacturing, across businesses ranging from local owner-run operations to large multinationals. CEO Alan Craughwell describes the core goal as “workplace independence” creating a win-win for both the individual and the business community, where employees can go about their day with confidence.
The rollout is backed by HEINEKEN Ireland, which piloted the technology in hospitality venues, and the company aims to support 1,000 jobs by 2030 a target that reflects both the scale of unmet need and the commercial case for building genuinely inclusive workplaces.
Founders: Leon Diop, Femi Bankole, and Pierre Yimbog
Main product: A book, a podcast and an awards show
Founded in June 2020 by Leon Diop, Boni Odoemene, and Femi Bankole in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the global amplification of Black Lives Matter movements, Black and Irish began with a simple but urgent premise: that the stories of Black and mixed-race people in Ireland were going untold. Just nine days after Floyd’s death, the Instagram account went live, and the response was immediate. Within weeks, 150 stories had been submitted and the account had grown to tens of thousands of followers, signalling that both the appetite to speak and the appetite to listen were already there. What had started as a storytelling page quickly became something more structural.
Today, Black and Irish operates as a nonprofit advocacy organisation spanning media, education, and community recognition. The organisation produces books, including Black and Irish: Legends, Trailblazers and Everyday Heroes, co-written by Leon Diop and Briana Fitzsimons, as well as a podcast and an annual awards gala.
Seventeen volunteers run the organisation across the country, channelling its founding energy into sustained, practical work. As Leon has put it, the goal has always been to show that the Black Irish identity is something real in Irish society, and that the people living that experience every day come from every imaginable walk of life.
Kerry-born mum Aoife Cotter founded Born Zippy after finding herself dealing with a challenge thousands of Irish families face but rarely talk about: night-time undressing. Her eight-year-old son Ted has Down Syndrome and autism, and like many parents in her situation, Aoife discovered that finding suitable adaptive clothing in Ireland was far harder than it should be. The solution she kept coming back to was pyjamas with a back zip, simple in theory but nearly impossible to source locally without expensive international shipping. Rather than keep ordering from abroad, she built the brand herself.
Born Zippy launched on World Down Syndrome Day, and its first collection covers sleepwear and swimwear designed with real families in mind, prioritising both function and fun. Everything is made using OEKO-TEX certified fabrics and GOTS certified materials, with external tags that can be removed easily for children with sensory sensitivities. The swimwear includes UPF50+ sun protection and resistance to chlorine and seawater, alongside matching reusable swim nappies.
Born Zippy is working with Change Clothes in Dublin to give families local access to the products, cutting out the customs costs and delivery delays that have long made adaptive children’s wear an expensive and frustrating category for Irish parents.
Founders: Brandon Blacoe and Eibhlin O’Riordan
Main Product: A fully modular gaming device tailored for players with disabilities
Based in Galway, accessibility startup ByoWave was founded in 2020 by Brandon Blacoe and Eibhlin O’Riordan. Driven by personal experience with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, they created the Proteus Controller, a fully modular gaming device tailored for players with disabilities. This innovative hardware utilises a snap-together cube system capable of transforming into more than 100 distinct configurations, enabling flexible one-handed, two-handed, or tabletop gameplay. Its industry credibility is significantly bolstered by its official status as a Microsoft “Designed for Xbox” partner product, cementing ByoWave’s reputation in the global accessible gaming market.
Within the broader Irish diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) landscape, ByoWave represents a rare and notable exception. Ireland’s DEI space remains largely dominated by service-oriented organisations, such as training consultancies, apps, and digital platforms. Because physical, product-led companies are uncommon, ByoWave highlights the massive scaling potential and direct, daily life impact that tangible assistive devices can offer. By bridging consumer technology with deep disability inclusion, the startup stands out as a premier example of how Irish-founded innovation can merge practical accessibility with mainstream consumer appeal to empower underrepresented communities
Founders: Eamon Brady, John O’Dea, Prof. Tommy Andersson, Dr. Leonard Yeo, and Dr. Paul Bhogal
Main Product: neurology’s most stubborn unmet needs: effective treatment for Intracranial Atherosclerotic Disease, or ICAD
Ceroflo is a Galway-based medical device company built around one of neurology’s most stubborn unmet needs: effective treatment for Intracranial Atherosclerotic Disease, or ICAD. The condition causes the narrowing and eventual blocking of arteries in the brain through plaque build-up and is responsible for up to 50 per cent of strokes globally. Current treatment relies on pharmaceutical therapies that still leave patients with a 20 per cent annual risk of a devastating stroke, and existing mechanical devices have consistently fallen short of what the anatomy of the brain’s arteries demands. Ceroflo was co-founded by Eamon Brady and John O’Dea, alongside globally recognised stroke interventionists including Prof Tommy Andersson of Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden, Dr Leonard Yeo of the National University of Health Singapore, and Dr Paul Bhogal of the Royal London Hospital.
The company’s core product is its SubMax Stent, designed to gently increase vital blood flow to the brain while reducing the risks associated with first-generation devices, including haemorrhage and stroke.
Funding has come from two significant sources: a €3.4 million grant from the Irish government’s Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund secured through a consortium with Advant Medical and ATU Galway, and a further €6.4 million raised through an EIIS investment round and private investors, which will enable Ceroflo to bring the SubMax Stent to 30 patients in a first-in-human clinical trial. The company also has ambitions to support regulatory studies in the US and Japan, targeting markets where the burden of ICAD is most acute.
Founders: Reney Maycock
Main Product: Embedded child-protection and anti-cyberbullying software
Chirp Family is a Dublin-based child protection technology company founded by Rena Maycock, developing what it describes as the world’s first embedded software that detects and blocks cyberbullying, grooming, and self-harm content at the smartphone manufacturing level. The technology operates beneath the operating system layer, making it resistant to deletion or circumvention, and detects harmful content in real time, including within encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Instagram. The distinction from existing parental control tools is fundamental: rather than surface-level keyword filters that sit on top of a device, Chirp embeds protection at the kernel level, where it cannot be bypassed by switching apps or clearing settings.
The company raised €4.4 million in seed funding in 2023 and has since opened a further funding round to support its international rollout. The product was developed in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair for the Prevention of Bullying at Dublin City University and ADAPT/Science Foundation Ireland.
Following a presentation at the UN’s ITU “AI for Good” Summit in Geneva, Chirp has secured commitments for over 500,000 Chirp-enabled smartphones through partnerships with European and Asian telcos, with letters of intent spanning Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the United States, reflecting ambitions well beyond its initial Irish and UK focus.
Founder: Monica Murphy
Main Product: Clothing for people with reduced mobility, stroke recovery, or post-surgery rehabilitation
Comfort Clothing is a specialised adaptive apparel brand launched by Monica Murphy to support individuals dealing with reduced mobility, stroke recovery, or post-surgery rehabilitation. Murphy was inspired to establish the business after experiencing the immense difficulty of sourcing practical yet dignified clothing for her father following a significant health change. Realising that a lack of accessible options often strips individuals of their independence, she collaborated with medical professionals and advocacy organisations like MS Ireland to design a functional collection tailored specifically to those managing neurological conditions, arthritis, and temporary post-operative needs.
The brand focuses on high-quality menswear and womenswear manufactured to ensure ease of dressing without compromising personal style. Its thoughtfully engineered garments feature discreet modifications that replace frustrating traditional fastenings, including shirts and blouses fitted with hidden magnetic closures for individuals with low finger dexterity.
The range also includes specialised side zip trousers designed to simplify dressing for wheelchair users and those recovering from hip or knee replacements. Committed to a circular economy, Comfort Clothing uniquely operates a pre-loved scheme allowing customers to return items when no longer needed, ensuring sustainable, dignified accessibility remains affordable and community-focused.
Founders: Deaf Village Ireland (DVI) and the Dublin Deaf Association
Main Product: Fully accessible community space, Irish Sign Language (ISL) training hubs, and social enterprise café operations
Deaf Village Ireland is a Deaf-led, state-of-the-art social, community, sporting, heritage, educational, and cultural complex in Cabra in Dublin, providing a wide range of facilities for both Deaf and hearing people. Managed by the Deaf community and staffed by both Deaf and hearing people, it operates as an integrated coalition where various Deaf organisations work together under one roof, making it one of the most concentrated hubs of Deaf services in Ireland. Its integrated communication ethos means both Irish Sign Language and spoken English are used throughout, ensuring the space is genuinely accessible to all who use it.
The campus includes a sports centre, swimming pool, meeting rooms, classrooms, and a chapel, alongside Ireland’s first Irish Sign Language café, Mad Brothers Café, which officially opened in November 2023. The renovation was carried out in collaboration with Deaf architect Richard Dougherty from Belfast and involved deaf artists whose work now lines the café, highlighting Deaf history and culture.
Funded through the government’s Community Centres Investment Fund, the café creates employment, supports remote working, and serves as an educational space where visitors can learn Irish Sign Language through interactive on-site technology, turning a formerly functional social space into a vibrant landmark for the wider Cabra community.
Founders: Cormac Chisholm, Darren Britton, and Patrick Guiney-Fox
Main Product: AI-powered digital accessibility and compliance workflow platform
DevAlly is a Dublin-founded software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup engineered to simplify how businesses achieve and maintain digital accessibility compliance across their web apps, websites, and digital products. The enterprise addresses a critical bottleneck in modern tech pipelines where accessibility issues frequently get stuck between legal mandates, overextended product managers, and fast-shipping development teams. By automating digital audits, the platform scans corporate infrastructure to flag major barriers, such as missing video captions, poor text-to-background contrast ratios, and screen reader incompatibilities. This allows companies to seamlessly monitor their digital footprints in real time and easily hit strict regulatory milestones, such as those set out by the European Accessibility Act (EAA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Section 508.
The primary operational innovation of the platform lies in its ability to translate static compliance audits into direct, actionable engineering workflows.
Instead of just delivering an overwhelming list of errors, the platform leverages specialised artificial intelligence and accessibility-focused language models to generate precise, code-level remediation fixes directly into a team’s existing GitHub or CI/CD pipelines. This proactive approach catches regressions before software updates are shipped, ensuring that inclusion stays firmly built into the product lifecycle rather than bolted on as an afterthought. Backed by significant pre-seed funding from international venture capital, Enterprise Ireland, and the NDRC, the startup is rapidly scaling its platform to democratise digital inclusion, helping organisations easily produce verified accessibility statements and compliance dashboards for corporate procurement teams worldwide.
Founders: Saint John of God Community Services and Fighting Blindness (Joint Initiative)
Main Product: Digital accessibility coaching framework and peer-led inclusion workshops
DigiCoach is a partnership between St John of God Community Services and Fighting Blindness, bringing together two distinct communities, people with intellectual disabilities and people with visual impairments, to tackle digital exclusion through the power of lived experience. The initiative is built on a straightforward but transformative premise: that the most effective teachers of assistive technology are the people who depend on it every day.
At St John of God Community Services, this approach grew from involvement in the SAID Erasmus+ project, where adults with intellectual disabilities were trained to become DigiCoaches, learning how to demonstrate accessible tools and support others in understanding technology in accessible and meaningful ways. In parallel, Fighting Blindness developed a peer coaching model in which people with visual impairments serve as DigiCoaches, supporting others in using screen readers, magnification tools, and smartphone accessibility features. With support from Rethink Ireland and SOLAS through the Technovate Programme, DigiCoaching has expanded through webinars, workshops, and partnerships with schools and communities in Dublin and Kerry. New funding from CREATE, set up by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, will enable the project to scale further, working with five additional organisations and employing 18 DigiCoaches across Ireland, creating meaningful, paid roles for disabled people at the heart of Ireland’s digital inclusion landscape
Founder: Cathy McEvoy and Cathy Walsh
Main Products: Unique and socially conscious company that bridges the worlds of art, creativity, and autism advocacy
Founded by Salthill native Cora Walsh, who now lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and run in Ireland by her niece Cathy McEvoy from their base in Templeogue, Dublin, Dyeboo is a socially conscious clothing and homeware brand built entirely around the work of autistic artists. Cora named the company after a term her son Conor, now 39, used as a child to express his joy at beautiful things, and that spirit of joyful expression runs through everything the brand produces. Dyeboo collaborates with a diverse group of autistic artists from around the world, taking their paintings and transforming them into a range of products so that artists can earn a commission and gain recognition for their work.
The product range includes t-shirts made with 100% organically grown cotton, socks made in Ireland, and luxury cushions with artwork digitally printed using eco-friendly pigments, with every product made from non-harmful materials. Packaging is 100% biodegradable, and the brand’s commitment to sustainability sits alongside its social mission rather than competing with it.
Dyeboo collaborates with Involve Autism, with a portion of proceeds going towards helping the organisation establish sport and art groups and support coffee mornings for new parents of autistic children. Across its collection, Dyeboo showcases the full range of autistic artistic expression, from abstract to figurative, giving each artist’s work the platform and audience it deserves.
CEO: John O’Sullivan
Main Product: Assistive technology assessment services, specialised children and adult disability services, and smart-home training hubs
Enable Ireland is a non-profit, state-funded charitable organisation that has grown into one of Ireland’s most significant disability services providers. It supports over 13,000 children and adults with disabilities and their families from 43 locations across 15 counties, delivering physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, personal support, respite, and residential care. Rather than an institutional model, Enable Ireland centres its work on a life-cycle approach, working alongside individuals from early childhood through adulthood to support independence, employment, and genuine inclusion in their communities.
At the heart of its innovation work is the National Assistive Technology Training Service, which has been delivered in partnership with Microsoft for over two decades.
Together, Enable Ireland and Microsoft are developing the AT Passport, an AI-enabled, person-centred record of an individual’s assistive technology needs, designed to help people transition more seamlessly across education, employment, and home settings. Enable Ireland’s AT programmes train around 1,000 students per year, with each graduate reaching an estimated 19 individuals with disabilities, creating a significant multiplier effect across Ireland. Through its Virtual Adult Service, the organisation also delivers Smart Home information sessions alongside advocacy, peer-led groups, and disability rights programming, reflecting a commitment to keeping technology and community life genuinely integrated.
CEO: John O’Sullivan
Main Product: Assistive technology assessment services, specialised children and adult disability services, and smart-home training hubs
Enable Ireland is a non-profit, state-funded charitable organisation that has grown into one of Ireland’s most significant disability services providers. It supports over 13,000 children and adults with disabilities and their families from 43 locations across 15 counties, delivering physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, personal support, respite, and residential care. Rather than an institutional model, Enable Ireland centres its work on a life-cycle approach, working alongside individuals from early childhood through adulthood to support independence, employment, and genuine inclusion in their communities.
At the heart of its innovation work is the National Assistive Technology Training Service, which has been delivered in partnership with Microsoft for over two decades. Together, Enable Ireland and Microsoft are developing the AT Passport, an AI-enabled, person-centred record of an individual’s assistive technology needs, designed to help people transition more seamlessly across education, employment, and home settings.
Enable Ireland’s AT programmes train around 1,000 students per year, with each graduate reaching an estimated 19 individuals with disabilities, creating a significant multiplier effect across Ireland. Through its Virtual Adult Service, the organisation also delivers Smart Home information sessions alongside advocacy, peer-led groups, and disability rights programming, reflecting a commitment to keeping technology and community life genuinely integrated.
Founder: Martin McKay (1996)
Main Product: Digital literacy support software, multi-platform toolbars, and accessibility browser extensions
Everway was formed in March 2024 through the merger of Texthelp and n2y, creating a global category leader in assistive and special education technology. The Texthelp story behind it stretches back further: founder Martin grew up in rural Northern Ireland, and it was his father’s severe stroke in 1981 that first exposed him to the barriers faced by people with communication and physical difficulties. He founded Texthelp in 1996, focused initially on people with profound speech and dexterity disabilities, before discovering a much wider market when he built a dyslexic spellchecker and introduced it to UK universities. From that pivot, Read&Write grew into one of the world’s most widely used assistive technology platforms.
Read&Write operates as a discreet toolbar integrating into everyday applications, web browsers, and platforms, including Google Docs and Microsoft Word. It delivers text-to-speech reading, word prediction, talk-and-type dictation, phonetic spellchecking, and screen masking to reduce visual stress, supporting students and employees with dyslexia, neurodiverse conditions, and literacy challenges. Everway is majority backed by Five Arrows, the alternative assets arm of Rothschild and Co, and its tools have now helped over 250 million people worldwide, with ambitions to reach many more through continued product expansion, including the recent addition of Embrace Education to its growing portfolio
Founder: Fiona Fahy
Main Product: Sustainable, luxury breastfeeding apparel and everyday nursing tops
Founded by Fiona Fahy after the birth of her first baby in 2017, Feed Me Mother is Ireland’s first sustainable breastfeeding clothing brand. Reflecting on that experience, Fiona realised that dedicated breastfeeding clothing was virtually non-existent, and that what did exist was maternity-first in its design rather than built for the very different postpartum phase. Shopping on the high street left her feeling disconnected from her personal style, frustrated by hidden holes, zips, and flaps, and certain that she was not alone in feeling that way. Building a brand became her solution.
Steered by feedback from other mothers, Fiona chose Tencel, a lyocell-based fabric produced through an environmentally responsible closed-loop process, described as twice as soft as cotton, with antibacterial properties that are particularly well suited to nursing. All of the t-shirts are made in Ireland, with a double-layer design that allows for discreet, confident feeding in any setting.
The goal from the start was to simplify the process and create high-quality, sustainable tops that flatter the postpartum body without sacrificing style. Fiona won Visa’s She’s Next grant programme, which provided a €10,000 grant and professional coaching, helping her build the business and reach more mothers across Ireland.
Founders: David Shiel, Tim Farrelly, and Fionn McCarthy
Main Product: Touch-based haptic tablet for visually impaired sports fans
Founded by David Deneher and Tim Farrelly of Trinity College Dublin and Omar Salem of Queen’s University Belfast, Field of Vision developed a touch-based handheld device that enables people with blindness or visual impairment to feel the speed and energy of sports matches with a granularity that audio commentary cannot reach. Custom-built cameras positioned in each corner of a stadium use AI to track key details from a match, transmitting this information within roughly half a second to a white, tablet-sized device embossed with the shape of a sports pitch. A small magnetic ring then guides the user’s finger around the tablet based on where the ball is, while vibrations convey match events such as a tackle or a change in possession.
Field of Vision won Enterprise Ireland’s Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2021 and has since grown well beyond its student origins.
In 2025, the company deployed devices at Aviva Stadium for Ireland vs England during the Six Nations, in partnership with Guinness, IRFU, and Voice of Vision Impairment Ireland. Expansion beyond football followed quickly: in early 2026, Field of Vision partnered with Tennis Australia and Infosys to launch Match Feel at the Australian Open, the first haptic device for tennis, validating that their technology can work across all sports regardless of pace.
Founders: Dr Abigail Moore and Daniel Plewman
Main Product: Fashionable medical scrubs, healthcare uniforms, and in-house personalised embroidery services
Founded in 2009 by Dr. Abigail Moore, a paediatric dentist frustrated by the absence of comfortable and stylish workwear in Ireland and the UK, and Daniel Plewman, a civil engineer with a vision for a people-first workplace, Happythreads has grown into one of Ireland’s leading e-commerce suppliers of healthcare uniforms. Their mission from the outset was simple: make work a happier place for everyone, from customers to staff and suppliers. Moving decisively away from the drab, ill-fitting scrubs that had long defined the sector, the Dublin-based company curates premium, ergonomic workwear in a wide range of colours for nurses, doctors, dentists, vets, lab technicians and beyond. It is currently stocked in major international brands including Koi, Cherokee and Dickies, with inclusive sizing from XXS to 5XL.
Headquartered at Calmount Park, Ballymount, Dublin 24, Happythreads operates an in-house embroidery service for clinics and hospitals requiring personalised corporate branding, and fulfils orders across Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe. The company has expanded internationally, launching dedicated platforms for the French market under the Happyblouse brand and, more recently, bringing its offering to Spain and Germany through Happyuniforms. .
Embracing a distributed decision-making model that treats every employee as a genuine stakeholder, Happythreads is also a proud MSF Emergency Partner, supporting healthcare workers and communities in crisis around the globe
Founder: Robert James Gabriel
Main Product: Browser extension and all-in-one digital assistive technology platform
Founded in 2015 by Irish software engineer Robert James Gabriel, Helperbird began as a deeply personal project, rooted in Gabriel’s own experience of struggling with dyslexia from his school years. During a 2015 internship at Teamwork.com, he built the first version of the tool to help him study and navigate the web more effectively, a passion project that has since grown into one of the world’s leading digital accessibility platforms. Recognised by Forbes on its 30 Under 30 Europe list in 2020, Gabriel built Helperbird on a clear premise: that standard web design too often excludes people with dyslexia, ADHD, and visual processing differences, and that a fully personalised browsing experience is not a luxury but a right.
The platform’s browser extension is designed to help users with personalised support, making websites, apps, and PDFs more accessible and productive according to each individual’s abilities, learning style, and lifestyle, packaging over 30 accessibility and productivity controls into a single interface. Rather than altering a website’s underlying code, the software layers tools directly over the user’s screen, including OpenDyslexic font adjustments, visual overlays, line-focus guides, and text-to-speech functionality. Operating on a freemium SaaS model, Helperbird is today used by Harvard, K-12 districts, and over one million students and teachers worldwide, making it a genuine global standard for digital inclusion.
Founders: Niamh Tallon and Mohammed Mahomed
Main Product: Digital sports media platform, educational empowerment workshops, and corporate cultural diversity partnerships
Co-founded by Niamh Tallon and Mohammed Mahomed and launched as a social enterprise, Her Sport is Ireland’s leading digital media platform dedicated exclusively to women’s sport. The platform was built to address a stark and well-documented imbalance in Irish sports media: less than 20% of sports coverage is dedicated to women in sport, despite women and girls making up a significant share of active sporting participants. Operating as a central news hub, Her Sport covers all things women’s sport from grassroots to elite level, with a major presence across social channels and its website, as well as a growing presence on television and a quarterly magazine released in collaboration with the Business Post.
Beyond its journalism, Her Sport tackles the pipeline problem at its root. 50% of girls drop out of sport by the age of 20, and the organisation works directly to reverse that trend through educational programmes delivered in schools and sports clubs, focused on confidence, physical literacy, and body image.
Through its digital platforms, Her Sport has built a community dedicated to creating cultural change for girls and women in sport through visibility, education and empowerment. Backed by support from Social Impact Ireland and the Local Enterprise Office, the platform continues to scale its reach and deepen its impact across Irish sport.
Founders: Clara Mulligan and Alan O’Neill (2024)
Main Product: AI-powered robotic lawnmowers, vacuums, and mops tailored for Irish homes
Founded during the Covid-19 pandemic by Clara Mulligan and her husband Alan O’Neill, HomeBot Ireland is a family-run consumer robotics startup headquartered in Dunmanway, West Cork. The business began when the couple, having relocated to West Cork during the pandemic, watched Alan’s father struggle every week to haul his mower up and down three steps to reach his garden. Too proud to ask for help, he eventually broke his ankle, and the experience crystallised a clear gap in the market for accessible, locally supported home robotics. Clara’s background in business, customer care, and supply chain management, combined with Alan’s engineering and AI expertise gained working on autonomous vehicles, gave the pair a distinctive foundation to build from
HomeBot Ireland’s first product, Buddy, is a wireless, AI-powered robotic lawnmower offering a cable-free, user-friendly solution to garden maintenance, specifically engineered for the split-level gardens, door saddles, and unpredictable weather typical of Irish homes. The range has since expanded to include robotic vacuums and mops, including the Nozzie 4-in-1 and the Glider. Carrying the Guaranteed Irish badge, the company backs every product with locally based customer care and after-sales service in West Cork, including diagnostics and repairs typically completed within 48 hours. A retail partnership with Euronics Ireland now places its products in more than 60 stores across the country, giving Irish consumers the chance to see the technology in person before they buy.
Founder: Mark Donnelly
Main Product: Mental health-focused casual wear, embroidered hoodies, and conversation-starting athleisure
HUH Clothing is a prominent Meath-founded e-commerce apparel brand and social enterprise explicitly engineered to spark open conversations around mental health and well-being. The enterprise was established by entrepreneur Mark Donnelly following his own personal battles with severe anxiety, body image struggles, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) during his formative years. Operating on the philosophy that a simple visual cue can break deep-seated societal stigmas, the brand’s name is a deliberate acronym for “How’s Ur Head?”. By embedding minimalist, high-visibility branding onto comfortable everyday streetwear, the venture transforms casual garments into universal symbols of advocacy, solidarity, and mental health awareness across Ireland and internationally.
The primary operational and philanthropic framework of the business seamlessly bridges high-quality retail production with direct financial support for front-line counselling services.
The core product catalogue includes premium cotton-blend hoodies, everyday crewneck sweatshirts, t-shirts, and specialised fleeces, such as the Irish-language edition embroidered with “Conas Atá Do Cheann?”. Alongside its e-commerce operations, the brand leverages its commercial success to drive tangible social impact, donating over €35,000 to regional and national mental health charities to fund crucial intervention services. Furthermore, the founder delivers authentic, research-backed workplace wellness keynotes and peer-led school talks for global tech firms, building psychologically safe environments and normalising emotional resilience from the ground up.
Founder: Karen McCormac
Main Product: inCharge is the care coordination app co-designed by people who draw on support. It brings together the person, their family, and their support team in one app
inCharge is a care coordination app founded by Karen McCormac and built around a simple but powerful principle: the person receiving support should be at the centre of their own care. Co-designed with people who actually draw on support, the app brings together individuals, their families, and their wider support teams in one secure, real-time platform. Key features include a living personal profile that captures preferences, needs, and life goals so people never have to retell their story when support arrangements change, alongside a daily diary for real-time handovers and a team schedule that ensures continuity of care around the clock.
Rather than building technology around systems and institutions, the platform is designed to give people with intellectual disabilities and complex needs genuine control over their own information and life choices. Whether someone lives at home, independently, or in supported living, inCharge keeps everyone organised, communicating clearly, and working toward a shared plan. Users and families have described it as a game-changer for mental health and peace of mind, a tool that reduces the invisible labour of care coordination and helps teams stay connected not just to each other, but to the person at the heart of it all.