Here's a few examples:
http://siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/item/19654-top-start-up...
http://siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/item/19645-endeavour-20...
=> our own YC clone run by Jerry Kennelly of Stockbyte, with pitches to top investors in Dublin, London and Silicon Valley.
http://siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/item/19067-silicon-vall...
What we need is to collectively get off our asses, stop blaming the government for everything, encourage successful entrepreneurs to run seed programs, and to make serious incentives to capture ambitious smart graduates from India, China and the like. Abtran, a startup company a few years ago in Cork, now employs over 1000 people for example. Granted, it's only a call centre, but it shows what can be done.