{"id":649431,"date":"2026-10-09T09:42:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T09:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/649431\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T09:42:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T09:42:40","slug":"my-weekend-im-up-with-the-lark-whether-i-like-it-or-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/649431\/","title":{"rendered":"My Weekend: &#8216;I&#8217;m up with the lark..whether I like it or not&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">\n            Tell us about yourself.\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">I\u2019m Frank Brennan, CEO and owner of Republic of Work, Cork\u2019s coworking and innovation hub on South Mall. I\u2019m originally from Cork and now based out in Carrigaline with my wife and our four kids \u2014 three girls and a boy \u2014 plus Gus, our dog, who thinks he runs the house.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">My route into this job was anything but straight: mechanical engineering in college, personal training, door-to-door sales in Australia, and seven years running weight management clinics before I stumbled into Republic of Work almost by accident and never left.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">These days, my work is a mix of strategy, member relationships, and a fair bit of hands-on building \u2014 we\u2019ve just expanded onto two more floors and brought in some great new companies and partners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">\n            What is your ideal way to spend a Friday night?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Feet up at home, most weeks \u2014 four kids under one roof means Friday night is often just about getting everyone fed, bathed, and into bed without incident. If we do get a night out, I\u2019m easily pleased with good food and good company.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">\n            Lie-ins or up with the lark, which is for you?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Up with the lark, whether I like it or not. Between the kids and Gus needing his walk, a lie-in is a rare and beautiful thing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">\n            Does work creep into your weekend at all?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Constantly, if I let it. Running a business like this means there\u2019s always a tender, an email, or a fit-out detail that could eat into Saturday. I try to ringfence family time, but I won\u2019t pretend I always succeed. If a spin into the office on a Saturday is needed, there\u2019s usually one of the kids in tow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">\n            If money were no object, where would you head to on a weekend city break? And who would you bring with you?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Anywhere the sun is shining, if I\u2019m honest \u2014 I\u2019m easily sold on a city break as long as there\u2019s good weather and good food.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">\n            Closer to home, is there some place you like to head to recharge the batteries?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Anywhere I can get the bike out on. I\u2019ve moved from road cycling into enduro mountain biking, so trail centres around Cork and Limerick are where I go to switch off completely.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">\n            Do you like to catch up with family\/friends at the weekend?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Yes \u2014 between four kids there\u2019s always some family gathering happening, and I try to make time for a coffee or a pint with friends when I can grab it. We\u2019ve a very close family, so there\u2019s usually a Sunday dinner in one of our houses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">\n            Do you get to indulge any hobbies? Even as a spectator?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Mountain biking is the big one \u2014 enduro riding specifically. It\u2019s the one thing that gets me completely out of my head and off email.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">\n            Entertain or be entertained? If it\u2019s the latter, do you have a signature dish?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">I love having family and friends over to the house.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Let it be a BBQ or a Sunday roast, you can\u2019t beat having people over.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">\n            We have so many places to eat out in Cork \u2014 where are your go-to spots for coffee\/ lunch\/ special meal?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Coffee \u2013 Three Fools; Breakfast \u2013 Duke Coffee Co, Lunch \u2013 ORSO; Sambo \u2013 Twenty; Dinner \u2013 Market Lane; Pint \u2013 Corner House in Carrigaline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">\n            Sunday night comes around too fast.. how do you normally spend it?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Trying to get everyone organised for the week ahead, but let\u2019s face it, my wife has that covered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">I always spend 20 minutes sneaking a look at my week ahead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">\n            What time does your alarm clock go off on Monday?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Early \u2014 usually before 6am.<\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu internal_Body1st\">\n            Anything else you\u2019re up to right now?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Republic of Work has had a big year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">We\u2019ve expanded onto two more floors, brought in new companies including an aquaculture-focused VC firm, and we\u2019re deep into an Enterprise Ireland tender and a new cross-border partnership with a coworking space in Edinburgh. Plenty on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tell us about yourself. I\u2019m Frank Brennan, CEO and owner of Republic of Work, Cork\u2019s coworking and innovation&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,85940,80],"class_list":["post-649431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-my-weekend","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}