Border People User Group (2) - The Cross Border Consumer
14 December 2009
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Dundalk, 10.30am
The second User Group meeting of the second phase of the Border People project funded by INTERREG IVA called “The Cross-border Consumer” was held on the 14 December in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Dundalk.
Speakers at the Border People User Group Meeting, "The Cross Border Consumer" in the Crown Plaza Hotel, Dundalk were, front from left: Antoinette McKeown, Chief Executive, NI Consumer Council; Andrew Mawhinney, Dundalk Town Centre Commercial Manager and Caroline Curneen, PR and Marketing Manager, European Consumer Centre in Ireland. Back: Annmarie O'Kane, Information Officer, Centre for Cross Border Studies and Joe Shiels, Border People Project Manager.
The speakers Antoinette McKeown, Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Consumer Council, and Caroline Curneen, PR and Marketing Manager from the European Consumer Centre in Ireland, highlighted some of the issues and sources of help for the consumer when they shop across the border. Andrew Mawhinney introduced the audience to the Dundalk rebranding project which among other things incorporates the "Nice One" Gift Card which can be spent in over 100 participating business in Dundalk.
The second phase of the Border People online information service (www.borderpeople.info) for people wishing to move across the Irish border to live, work and study was launched in Armagh on Tuesday 2 June 2009. The service is managed by the Centre for Cross Border Studies in partnership with the North/South Ministerial Council and is funded by the EU INTERREG IVA programme.
Border People, whose first phase was launched by the Deputy First Minister, Mr Martin McGuinness, in May 2008, is a public information website – the first of its kind on the island of Ireland – structured around the four themes of Commute, Work, Live and Study.
It features sign-posting information on taxation, social security, job-seeking, qualifications, health, education, banking, telecommunications and other areas of interest to citizens moving across the border to live in the other Irish jurisdiction. The website’s second phase (2009-2011) will be further developed to meet the ever increasing demand for cross-border mobility information. It will be publicised through a multi-annual marketing campaign to bring it to the public’s notice, particularly in border regions.
If you would like to attend future events please contact Joe Shiels, Border People Project Manager on 028 3751 1550.
