Getting Smart About Artificial Intelligence

Gary Byrne. Pic: Paul Sherwood

atest press release from Tony O’Brien Communications, issued on behalf of Gary’s Tech Hub on Friday, May 1st 2026…

County Wicklow could be the location for the country’s second AI (Artificial Intelligence) advice shop.

The first Gary’s Tech Hub has just opened in Killiney Shopping Centre in south county Dublin but the owner – Gary Byrne – is already working on expansion plans.

“With our sister company, Gary’s Computer Repair Service, already doing extensive business across Wicklow, we are looking at Greystones or Bray for our second Tech Hub”, explained Gary.

Gary’s Tech Hub will advise people – individuals and business – on everything they need to know about AI and how best to use it as well as setting them up for this important new technology.

“I decided to create the Hub because it will be more people centred and I wanted to promote AI for homes and businesses,” Gary said. “I think AI is something more people should know about because it is truly transformational.

“AI has the capacity to be bigger in its own way than the Industrial Revolution. That’s the significance of the changes it will bring. And that’s why I have set up the Tech Hub to be able to help people – business and individuals – to understand and make best use of this game changing new technology,” said Gary.

Gary’s repair service (GCRS) – which powers the Tech Hub – has been in business for over 20 years solving tech problems for over 8,000 clients from all over the country in those years.

Amongst the services offered by GCRS… 

• On Site Repairs

• Business IT Support

• WiFi and Network Solutions

• Data recovery services

• Apple Mac screen repairs

• Microsoft 365 Cloud Solutions

• Ultrafast Fibre Broadband Solutions

• Business Technology Consulting

• Tablet repairs

• Server Repair Solutions

• Mobile Phone Repairs

• 5G Hi Speed Community Broadband

In addition to the repairs service for individuals and businesses, Gary has had service contracts with government departments and agencies. He has also provided technology consultancy advice to a number of embassies.

Gary was always interested in technology and how things worked. “I bought my first PC – a DELL desktop – in 1998 and started doing support for companies such as HP who were in Clonskeagh at the time.

“As personal computers and mobile phones began to become more popular I saw the need for a repair service. People came to me with problems such as dial-up, networking, operating systems, malware, slows PCs etc. And I could help with all of that.”

Ahead of its time, GCRS began providing its service online with a number of pick-up points for broken laptops, iPads, PCs, phones, gaming consoles, etc, or an engineer could call to a home or place of business to carry out repairs or installations. “But I have now decided to provide a bricks and mortar location not only to carry out repairs but to sell, consult and promote all kinds of technology in one place especially AI,” stated Gary.

As well as the everyday breakdowns and mishaps people experience with technology, Gary has an important warning for tech users whether personal or business – and that is to check up on your security.

He states: “People, even the casual user of a mobile phone or iPad, don’t realise how vulnerable they are to hacking or other attacks which could end up costing them dearly. People think they have nothing to hide and ask who would be interested in them but they would be surprised in terms of their bank details and other information, etc.

“The human is actually the weakest link in IT security. Everything else comes after that. If the human is not aware of how to stay secure and protect the electronic device they are using, everything else is compromised. That applies to home and small businesses in particular.”

One key piece of advice he gives is never connect to public WiFi. “People don’t realise the risk to their data by connecting publicly. If at all possible people should use the personal hotspot facility on their mobile phone when connecting to WiFi in public places.”

Another important piece of advice to help businesses stay secure, Gary says, is that they should have a secure firewall within their WiFi. Plus all staff mobile phones in a business should be managed by an IT provider.

GCRS has three drop off locations in Dublin: Killiney, Camden Row and Parnell Street while other devices can be collected from any part of Dublin while a postal service is also available. Together with Dublin city and county, GCRS also covers Wicklow, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Kilkenny, Louth, Limerick, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon and Sligo.

You can find out more about Gary’s Tech Hub here and about Gary’s Computer Repair Service here.