Kildare shoppers asked to ‘Look for Local’ this Christmas
New campaign: Local Enterprise Office Kildare encourages consumers to support local businesses
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Orla McGee, KCC Economic Development Officer, with Paul Lenehan and Jill Kinsella of Firecastle, Kildare Town. Picture: Les Kelly Studios );
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Consumers and businesses in County Kildare are being encouraged to shop local this Christmas and are reminded of the huge range of goods and services they can access on their own doorsteps with a new Government campaign to ‘Look For Local’ launched in Firecastle, Kildare Town.
Kildare County Council’s Senior Economic Development Officer, Orla McGee was joined by Paul Lenehan and Jill Kinsella of Firecastle and launched the campaign with Local Enterprise Office Kildare to encourage shoppers to ‘Look for Local’ this Christmas following a challenging year for small businesses.
Thousands of Irish companies have been availing of the opportunity to promote their business through the Look for Local campaign, which was launched in November by the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs).
Backed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in partnership with Enterprise Ireland and the local authorities, the Look for Local campaign aims to highlight small Irish businesses in every sector, asking individuals to support businesses in their locality when looking for goods or services. The campaign is tapping into the deep well of goodwill towards local businesses that exists in communities throughout Ireland, says Conor O Donovan, head of global marketing and corporate communications at Enterprise Ireland. Local companies across a range of sectors are featured on the localenterprise.ie/LookforLocal website.
By shopping in Kilkenny we keep local shopkeepers and service providers in business - Fiona Deegan, Kilkenny LEO
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Born in Stradbally, Co Laois, Fiona Deegan has lived in Kilkenny for the past 20 years.
During that time, through her work with the Local Enterprise Office, she has worked with many businesses throughout the county, providing a range of supports to assist them to start-up and grow. She is passionate about Kilkenny and continues to innovate to come up with successful campaigns to sell Kilkenny as a destination to live, work, shop, eat and play.
Married to Martin, Fiona lives on a dairy farm just outside Castlecomer. She is a busy woman, rising at 6am every morning to feed and muck out the horses before heading for school drop-off and work. So I was honoured that she had the time to talk to me about her most recent Christmas campaign - #shopkilkenny - an initiative that I have been following and supporting since it was launched two years ago.
Minister pictured with Hilary O’Farrell, chair of Bandon Business Association.
Pic: Brian Lougheed
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Minister for Planning and Local Government, Peter Burke TD, has described Cork County Council’s role in the local response to the COVID-19 pandemic to date as vital. He was speaking during a visit to Bandon to thank local authority staff for their work and visit businesses who have benefited from local authorities’ supports.
Cork County Council has provided a range of economic and social supports in response to challenges arising from the pandemic. These have included:
€28 million in Restart Grants administered to businesses, 913 Trading Online Vouchers and 715 Business Continuity Vouchers so far in 2020