Miconex and Chambers Ireland agreed a partnership whereby Town & City Gift Cards will be the Gift Card program of choice for Chamber members. The Town & City Gift Card network is rapidly expanding across Ireland, active in 16 locations in December 2025. By partnering with Miconex and the Town & City Gift Card program to members, Chambers Ireland is championing local shopping across Ireland, supporting its members to capitalise on the increased demand for Gift Cards and convert ‘shop local’ sentiment across consumer and corporate audiences into increased local spend with their own Town & City Gift Card program.
More and more towns, cities and regions across Ireland are creating their own Town & City Gift program in order to make support for local simple. And organisations across Ireland are increasingly opting to support local and gift their employees unbeatable local choice with their rewards and incentives using Town & City Gift Cards. Active in 16 places across Ireland – a rapidly expanding network – Town & City Gift Cards are local gift cards branded to specific Irish towns, cities and counties which enable the organisation to have a tangible, positive impact locally. Town & City Gift Cards offer:
- Multi-store, prepaid Mastercards branded to specific Irish towns and cities. Each Gift Card is unique, and can only be spent with registered businesses in the town or city that card is branded to, locking spend into local economies
- Cards have to be spent in person driving footfall and diverting online spend back to local high streets
- Easy for businesses – using existing payment terminals
- Easy for customers – spend with participating businesses with balance instantly updated. Instant balance check
- A local option for rewards and incentives – choosing Town & City Gift Cards allows firms to demonstrate their CSR credentials, locking their reward spend in locally
- Industry leading support minimises administration for Chambers/BIDs
- Over 20,000 businesses are part of the multi-award winning Town & City Gift Cards concept, with over €53m in local spend delivered.
The demand for Gift Cards in Ireland is strong, driven by the generous Small Benefit Exemption scheme which increased to €1,500 in January 2025 and the established ‘shop local’ sentiment that exists within the country. Post pandemic, and ‘shop local’ continues to rise in importance across Ireland.
- 98% of people said support for local was important
- 82% said supporting local has become more important to them over the past 12 months
- 97% would like to receive a Gift Card that can be spent with big brands and indies
Chambers Ireland TOWN AND CITY GIFT CARDS Picture Conor McCabe Photography.
Miconex is the leader in local Gift Card programs which deliver local spend, with 200+ programs around the world, Town & City Gift Cards make it easy for chambers to introduce their own branded Gift Card, or evolve their paper program to a high-tech physical and digital Gift Card. Key benefits for chambers include:
Supported setup and launch. From the technical setup of the program on the Mastercard network to Gift Card design and production, onboarding, PR and more – Miconex is a specialist company dedicated to working with places across Ireland and beyond. Miconex’s support ensures a successful setup and launch.
Industry leading support. Once launched, Miconex’s industry leading ongoing support helps chambers to minimise administration and maximise return.
Multi-award winning technology. Miconex’s technology is tried and tested with multiple chambers in Ireland- giving chambers confidence in a solution that works.
A versatile tool. Town & City Gift Cards are popular for employee rewards, client incentives, and consumer gifts, giving chambers a versatile tool for consistently driving footfall and spend.
A supportive network. As part of the Town & City Gift Cards network active across Ireland – and beyond- chambers can tap into best practice, and share ideas to elevate their shop local program.
Town & City Gift Cards are increasing in popularity as employee rewards, client thank you gifts and customer incentives as they enable the organisation to have a tangible positive impact locally. Here are some of the main reasons organisations are making the switch:
Unbeatable local choice: Town & City Gift Cards are the only card that offers the big brands they know with the local businesses they love in a single Gift Card, enabling organisations to offer unbeatable local choice to their employees.
Increased prominence of CSR: 84% of organisations said CSR has become more important to their organisation over the past 12 months, Town & City Gift Cards help Irish organisations to demonstrate their CSR credentials.
Ease of use: Organisations have the choice between physical cards to hand out or digital cards which can be sent to multiple employees on a specific day/time – Town & City Gift Cards make support for local simple.
Corporate order site: A dedicated corporate order site facilitates corporate orders quickly and easily – with physical cards securely delivered by DPD.
Aligning to purpose and values: 94% of organisations said their rewards and incentives align with their organisational purpose and values. Choosing Town & City Gift Cards is a positive statement about an organisation’s tangible support for local.
A local option for rewards and incentives: Compatible with the Small Benefit Exemption, Town & City Gift Cards give organisations a real, local alternative to online cards where the benefit is locked into the local area.
Positive PR: Choosing Town & City Gift Cards is a positive story for the community, ensuring employee benefits also benefit the local economy.
Helping Chambers drive local footfall and spend
With your own Town & City Gift Cards program, you can create an attractive, easy to use Gift Card that consumers and employees will love, taking your share of the €787 million Irish Gift Card market. Support for local has never been stronger, with both consumers and organisations. Consumers realise that support for local keeps the businesses they love open, and their town or city thriving. And organisations understand that choosing local enables them to take an active role in the success of their community. The shop local movement is happening right now. And a Town & City Gift Card program helps to convert this sentiment into increased local spend.
Videos Explainers:
Colin Munro: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qwwF4qaOUDaN-pZkgimRz50Fl7e4kQx1/view?usp=sharing
Mark Cunningham: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iE5flC8LdpWiwQGr-pIbtyF6_AiYQvg6/view?usp=sharing
Michelle Aylward: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r6_EzvMYucez5QRMNHWcvlG7bxn2FXpK/view?usp=sharing
Toni Forrester: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UUlY-ZKgdfbcE4_iL6RFXOYePKNHn–S/view?usp=sharing
