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A less common known cost is rates. Rates is a form of local property tax paid directly to the local council. It is only paid by the occupiers of commercial or industrial properties.

The amount to be paid is calculated after an independent valuation by the Valuations Office which is multiplied by an amount set each year by the local council. For TOG our local council is Dublin City Council.

Luckily for us Schedule 4 of the Valuation Act, 2001 provides a list of property types and uses that are exempted from paying rates. With this information we framed our objectives, came up with a structure and drafted our initial constitution with an eye on being made rates exempt.

For our initial space on Arran Quay the rates amount was about €1000 per year, which was cheaper to pay then the amount for valuation fees and auditing expenses. But for our current space on Chancery Lane the amount is about €5000 per year, so becoming rates exempt was a requirement for us.

At the time of our move we had an EGM to adopt some constitution changes which we felt were required to get the exemption. These changes include a restatement of our primary and secondary objectives to be compatible with the charitable purposes defined in the Charities Act, 2009 and the requirement to get our accounts audited.

Our landlord requested a revaluation of the property after we moved in, so we had a site visit from an Valuation Office Officer. The initial valuation in August was unsuccessful for us, but was only based on the physical attributes of the property. The process then gave us the opportunity to disagree and provide more information.

In our response in September we had our first real opportunity to introduce what TOG is, our operating structure, provide information about our events and activities, our financial reports and that we believed we are a charitable organisation. We were asked to provide extra information by email, particularly on how we provide a public benefit.

In November we received another unsuccessful response. Our option at this point was start paying rates or file an Appeal to the Commissioner of Valuation for €125. We put our appeal in just before Christmas and after the acknowledgement we could expect a response within six months.

Role on six months and a bit longer and we heard nothing. Then one afternoon a phone call from the Valuation Office. During the conversation I’m told that we were sent the wrong notification in November and as a charitable organisation we were rates exempt. Today Friday we received written confirmation and a refund for our Appeal fee.

This is very good news for us. It’s also great news for the wider group of hackerspaces in Ireland 091 Labs, Milk Labs and Nexus as they are using a similar structure to TOG.

Not much changes for us but it’s definitely nice to have some official recognition of our status.

Time Table of Events in TOG

Saturday 20th

11:00 to late : Synchronous Hackathon

19:00 to 20:30 : Hacker Quiz

20:30 to late : Open Soical Night

Sunday 21st

11:00 to late : Synchronous Hackathon

12:00 to 14:30 : Basic Soldering Workshop

15:00 to 17:30 : Mini Mood Light Soldering Workshop

Monday 22nd

19:00 to 22:00 : Electronics and Micro controller Group Night

19:00 to 21:00 : Breadboard Projects

Tuesday 23rd

19:00 to 22:00 : Crafting Night

Wednesday 24th

19:00 to 22:00 : Computing/Networking/Programming Group Night

Thursday 25th

19:00 to 21:00 : Night of Lightning Talks

Topics: making your first open-source contribution, 3D printing, implanted magnets, lock picking overview, CCC/R0ket badge

Friday 26th

19:00 to ? : Beginners Capture The Flag Event

Saturday 27th

11:00 to 14:00 : Pinhole Photography Workshop

15:00 to 18:00 : Pinhole Photography Workshop

Sunday 28th

At TOG we are still working on our time table of events which we’ll flesh out for the come days and weeks.

If you live somewhere else in Ireland and want to take part but can’t make it to Dublin then you should check out:

Cork: Nexus
Galway: 091 Labs
Limerick: Milk Labs

Most of us at one time or another have been in the formal education system. Do we have a good experience ? Could it be better ? Can hackerspaces solve the problems?

The Dublin Google Technology User Group(GTUG) will be hosting a panel discussion on this very topic. The panel will be made up of members of our hackerspace ,  educators and employers.  It is set to be a lively thought provoking discussion.

Event Details

Date: Tuesday 26th of July.

Time: 6.30 pm

Location: Google HQ, Barrow St., D4

Sign Up: Here

Cost: Free!!

Agenda
6.30 – Nibbles
6.45 – Google Prediction and Storage APIs, Martin Omander, Google Dev
Advocate
7.35 – Break
7.40 – Panel discussion – ‘Hackerspaces and the formal education system’ -
Hackerspaces are spaces in which groups of hackers congregate to work on
tasks/projects that are of interest to them. Some very interesting and
innovative
work is taking place in hackerspaces worldwide. The link between hackerspaces
and the formal education system is weak at best – this panel discussion will
explore the salient points of hackerspaces, whether more people can be
encouraged
to engage with hackerspaces and whether they are intrinsically incompatible with
formal structures or whether there could be a place for them within
more classical
educational systems
Panellists – Mark Deegan (DIT), John Looney (Google), two hackerspace members.
8.30 – finish

So what do you want from a TOG dinner party? Ordinary three course meal; formal four course meal; party food; experimental cooking; BBQ; bring-your-own?

We’ve a reasonably equipped kitchen and BBQ. We expect to meet up in TOG about 2pm for the clean up, shopping, preparation, cooking/baking, with dinner starting about 6-7pm. If you like to attend, cook or bring something comment below. We’ll probably have a small contribution to cover the food costs. BYOB.

Following on from the March event we’ll also be having Projects Night on Saturday. Participants will have a short opportunity to present projects they have worked since the last meeting and any new projects they hope to work on over the next three months. We expect this meeting to run from about 8pm to 9pm.

Somewhat related to the Projects Night we are announcing our Summer Fund. Over the three summer months this fund will provide approximately €120 per month for a group project(s). The exact criteria hasn’t been set yet. But it will likely involves a lump sum being give to a project to buy parts/materials for a project which involves/stimulates group activity in the space. Project suggestions and participation from non-members is welcomed.

TOG and the other Irish hackerspaces 091 Labs, Hackerspace Belfast, Hackerspace Cork and miLK Labs have been invited to run our own Hackerspace Tent during MindField.

The Hackerspace Tent will be manned throughout the weekend by hackers and makers showing off projects, providing opportunities to learn new skills and be creative.

We’re still working on the schedule of events and activities so we’ll be adding more information to this post.

The large predefined events are now on the MindField Hackerspace Event page. And we are coordinating activities between the spaces on the follow wiki page.