*AddJust – (l-r) Michael Kelly, Chief Technology Officer (CTO); Joe Neylon, Director of Business Development; Roisin Murphy, Head of Client Services and Governance and Padraig Neylon, Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
A KILRUSH software company has signed a ten year contract worth €4.7m with the Local Government Management Association (LGMA).
AddJust have secured the contract from the LGMA to provide a housing asset management system to be implemented by all 31 local authorities across the country following a public tender process. The contract is part of the government’s Housing For All strategy which aims to address the current housing crisis.
This new national housing platform will host data on the Government’s second largest asset portfolio, social houses, which are worth in excess of €22 billion to the state. The company founders are Padraig Neylon (CEO), his uncle Joe Neylon (Head of Business Development), both of whom are from Kilmurry McMahon and Michael Kelly (Chief Technology Officer) who hails from Cooraclare.
Property management software for the Irish public sector, approved housing bodies (AHBs) and the private sector are developed by AddJust, the company employs nine people. The software combines asset management, survey management, procurement, contract and maintenance management on a single centralised platform.
A range of professional services to the local government sector are provided by the LGMA which connects all 31 local authorities, aligning expertise and driving innovation.
In the context of the Programme for Government commitment to the deep retrofit of 500,000 dwellings by 2030, local authority housing stock accounts for circa 7.3% of the overall national housing stock therefore the sector will be required to retrofit circa 36,500 units.
CEO of AddJust, Padraig Neylon explained, “AddJust’s objective as a platform is to deliver live data on each element within each of the 150,000 plus local authority houses in the Republic of Ireland. Information can be gathered based on each interaction with the house by local authority employees or their contractors”.
He continued, “Part of the AddJust software roll out also involves a mobile inspection app which is used to carry out inspections on private rental properties that are registered with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB)”.
Currently based in the Clare County Council operated digital hub in Kilrush, AddJust is an Enterprise Ireland High Potential Start Up. Padraig said, “The Kilrush hub has played a key role in helping us to take our software to the public sector market as it was here that we began our journey”.
They first worked with Clare County Council prior to being awarded the LGMA contract. “We were extremely lucky that Clare County Council had faith in us to initially adopt our software. We were fortunate that Anne Haugh, Tony Neville and others within the Council’s Housing Department were the first out of the blocks to come on board with us in developing this software. Clare County Council was the first local authority in the country to adopt our software and have been a key part of the development of new features as we release them.
“Subsequent to winning the Clare County Council tender, the following year we won the Galway County Council tender and they followed on from what Clare County Council had initiated,” Mr Neylon said.
Neylon said the company plans further expansion and remains very proud of their West Clare roots. “Kilrush is a quietly progressive town from a community and business viewpoint and we are delighted to be based here. This business idea originated in West Clare, has been invested in by our investors who are based in West Clare and we hope to deliver more high quality jobs from our base here”.
