Tipperary and Limerick come together to power 'shop local' rewards

Limerick and Tipperary are uniting to power easy employee rewards, in a move that could inject millions of euros into the local economy.

The leaders of the Limerick Gift Card and the Tipperary Gift Card are encouraging organisations to choose their respective gift cards as rewards and incentives in a single order, giving employees the gift card for their home town while locking reward spend into the local economy.

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Central Statistics Office data suggests there are approximately 24,000 businesses in County Tipperary and County Limerick combined, with an estimated 160,000 employees.

Backed by Limerick City and County Council and Limerick Chamber, the Limerick Gift Card was introduced in November 2024. The Love Tipperary Gift Card, backed by County Tipperary Chamber and Tipperary County Council, launched at the same time.

The cards, available in physical or digital format, are popular as employee rewards in line with the Small Benefit Exemption that allows organisations to gift their employees up to five small non-cash benefits each year up to the value of €1,500, free of PAYE income tax, USC and PRSI.

A combined total of over €500,000 of Limerick Gift Cards and Love Tipperary Gift Cards have been sold to date, with over 520 businesses accepting the cards across Limerick city, Newcastle West, Adare, Abbeyfeale, Kilmallock and Rathkeale, and in the towns of Carrick-On-Suir, Clonmel, Cahir, Cashel, Tipperary Town, Thurles, Templemore, Nenagh and Roscrea.

The Limerick Gift Card and Love Tipperary Gift Card are both part of the multi-award winning Town & City Gift Card concept from fintech Miconex, active in 16 Irish towns, cities and regions.

Seán Golden, Chief Economist and Director of Policy at Limerick Chamber, said: “Limerick and Tipperary are right beside each other and while we may be rivals in sport, when it comes to encouraging local footfall, we’re 100% on the same page.

“Lots of employees live in Tipperary and work in Limerick and vice versa. It’s very easy for organisations to buy the number of Limerick and Tipperary cards they need in one order to suit the needs of employees, and help keep spend local in a way that’s simple for the organisation. For employers, the key benefit of choosing the Limerick Gift Card and the Love Tipperary Gift Card is that their reward spend is ringfenced into the local economy.”

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Michelle Aylward, Chief Executive at County Tipperary Chamber added: “CSR is a huge consideration for organisations now and choosing the Love Tipperary Gift Card and Limerick Gift Card for employees is a decision that has a tangible positive impact on our local economies. We’ve already generated over half a million in sales in just over 1 year, but the potential impact of more organisations choosing local is transformative.

“If 10% of the approximately 160,000 employees in Limerick and Tipperary received the full Small Benefit Exemption allowance of €1500 each year, that would be an extraordinary €24m locked into our counties, powering local jobs and local vibrancy.

“In addition, both the Limerick Gift Card and the Love Tipperary Gift Card are commission free for businesses to accept, which is a huge benefit to businesses. Many don’t accept the national gift cards because of the high commission rates. We know that Tipperary and Limerick organisations want to support local, and the objective of our collaboration with the Limerick Gift Card is to show that supporting local can be easy.”

Colin Munro is the CEO of Miconex and said: “The Love Tipperary Gift Card and the Limerick Gift Card blend ease, choice and support for local in a single card. The cards are easy to buy and spend. They offer unbeatable local choice across and unrivalled support for local. We encourage all organisations to consider making the move to their local gift card, supported by our Ireland based customer service and fulfilment team, and see how easy supporting local can be.”