With unemployment and emigration a reality for many people, RTÉ has launched a campaign using all its resources to help support Irish jobs.
RTÉ’s Local Heroes is a multi-platform campaign on television, radio, print and online that will highlight the actions we can all take to support Irish jobs and invite everyone to get involved and take part.
Senator Feargal Quinn has been asked to come on board to lead the campaign. He said, “We are all facing a major challenge but we know that people in Ireland understand that the way out of our economic situation is in our own hands. I was delighted to be invited by RTÉ to take part in a campaign in which RTÉ will use its resources to highlight the action we can all take to support Irish jobs, to bring people together to find solutions, to provide a central information source and to highlight examples of what is working around the country. Small changes at a local level can and will have an impact on the national economy so we want to let everyone know what they can do and to invite everyone to get involved”.
While it seems that much of our economic situation is beyond our control, every individual, business and community in Ireland has the power to make a difference to the wider economy.
Running for six weeks from 7th November, RTÉ’s Local Heroes campaign will invite people to take their economic future into their own hands and fight back for jobs by highlighting a range of specific actions that we can all take to stimulate jobs creation.
The campaign will urge everyone from individuals to businesses and communities to become a Local Hero by taking some of these actions so that we can create and sustain jobs in Ireland.
Individuals can become Local Heroes by pledging to shop local, buy Irish, holiday at home or become part of a Local Heroes group in their town. They can also pledge to use the Local Heroes Coupon, which offers rewards for purchasing goods and services that support local jobs.
Businesses can also become Local Heroes by signing up to the Local Heroes Coupon initiative, using Irish products where possible, supporting a Local Heroes Group or adopting a start-up business in the local area.
There will also be specific information and resources available for anyone who wishes to set up their own Local Heroes group in their town, as well as support and information for jobseekers.
RTÉ’s Local Heroes Campaign will run across a number of programmes on RTÉ Television and Radio and there will be major Online and Print activity that will highlight and support the campaign.
On RTÉ Television a new six-part television series, Local Heroes – A Town Fights Back (RTÉ One, November 9th, 8:30pm), will follow the people of Drogheda, Co Louth as they work alongside Senator Feargal Quinn and an assembled team of experts to try to kick-start their local economy.
The team of experts working in Drogheda includes entrepreneur Jerry Kennelly, brand expert Noel Toolan, strategic marketing expert Gary Joyce, brand consultant Pat Savage and recruitment expert Robert Mac Giolla Phádraig.
Drogheda is typical of the economic situation facing many towns and communities in Ireland, having felt the full effects of the downturn with over 8,700 of the town’s workforce unemployed. The programme will follow the progress of the people of Drogheda as they work together to come up with and road test imaginative ideas and solutions that could help their local economy start to recover and lead to jobs creation.
The efforts of the people of Drogheda to save and create jobs in their community are intended to provide inspiration and guidance to other communities in similar situations. The people of Drogheda hope to show other towns throughout the country what is possible when a community comes together with a common purpose, and invite them to follow suit.
As the Local Heroes Campaign rolls out there will be weekly updates across RTÉ Television on the campaign and information about how to get involved and what’s happening around the country on programmes as diverse as Nationwide, Four Live, The Business and The Daily Show.
On RTÉ Radio 1 Today with Pat Kenny will be visiting four towns around Ireland to see how they are mirroring the Local Heroes initiatives being implemented in Drogheda. In a series of four live outside broadcasts from Portlaoise, Longford, Tuam and one other town the programme will highlight the issues facing these towns and look at what the citizens are doing to tackle them. Also on RTÉ Radio 1 The Business with George Lee will kick start the series with a call for businesses around the country to get involved. The programme will also bring businesses from participating towns together for a national networking event to make connections and share experiences.
On the RTÉ Local Heroes website (www.rte.ie/localheroes), which goes live on November 7th, a full catalogue of the ideas and initiatives piloted in Drogheda will be explained and made available so that other towns and communities can draw on the experience of Drogheda and start their own economic renewal. The website will provide a valuable resource with information for individuals, groups, jobseekers and businesses about how they can get involved.
The Local Heroes Coupon can be downloaded from the website, which will include a list of the retailers taking part.
The Local Heroes website will also provide a Toolkit for other towns interested in starting their own Local Heroes group. There they will information on creating a Local Heroes team, finding a Local Heroes hub, organising a Local Heroes Ideas Summit and creating and managing a Local Heroes Time Bank, Town Ambassador Programme and Jobs Buddy Scheme.
The RTÉ Guide will feature information on the campaign and will print the Local Heroes Coupon weekly for the six weeks of the Local Heroes Campaign.
All of us can become Local Heroes. So as the campaign goes live on November 7th RTÉ will be calling on other towns across the country to take up the mantle and follow Drogheda’s lead. Through their actions the people of Drogheda have created a template for a response to the economic crisis that can be adopted and built on by communities across the country and the aim is to encourage others to follow suit.
RTÉ’s Managing Director of Television, Glen Killane said, “There is no greater challenge facing the country at this time than that of job creation. We understand that people are struggling to find solutions to the economic problems they face personally, as well as those facing the country. We have put our resources into setting up the Local Heroes Campaign to be a hub for ideas, to point towards solutions, to help motivate people, to promote activity at a local level, to elicit support of the wider business community and to help deliver tangible results at a time of such uncertainty. Drogheda has started the process and we hope that many more towns around the country will follow in their footsteps and start the fight back for jobs in their own communities. This is a campaign for everyone. We can all play a part in our economic recovery and we invite everyone to join us in the Local Heroes campaign.”
ENDS
Date: 26th October 2011
RTÉ`s Local Heroes Campaign starts on Monday 7th November
Local Heroes – A Town Fights Back starts on RTÉ One, Wednesday 9th November, 8:30pm and is made for RTÉ by Animo Television
Today with Pat Kenny, RTÉ Radio 1, Monday to Friday, 10am
The Local Heroes website www.rte.ie/localheroes goes live Monday 7th November
For more information please contact:
Karen Fitzpatrick, Senior Press Officer, RTÉ Television: 01 208 2667, 086 814 9290, karen.fitzpatrick@rte.ie
Sheena Madden: Press Officer, RTÉ Radio: 01 208 2452, 087 245 8046, sheena.madden@rte.ie
Siobhan Colgan, Press Officer, RTÉ Corporate Communications, 01 208 2067, 087 799 2330 siobhan.colgan@rte.ie