EURES Cross Border Employer Incentives 01 July

EURES Cross Border Employer Incentives Business Briefing

The Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with EURES Cross Borderand in collaboration with Letterkenny Chamber, will host a seminar for SMEs on employment incentives and support available to employers in the cross-border region.

This event is held to encourage SMEs in the region tointeract and benefit from free EURES recruitment services.

As the EU Settlement Scheme comes to a close on 30 June and employers continue to value the contribution EU citizens make to businesses across the UK, EURES CBP is available to support should the need arise.

We will be joined by speakers from Department for Communities,  Donegal Local Enterprise Office, InterTrade Ireland and Department for Social Protection who will provide information  on programmes and services available to employers bothsides of the border.

Funded by EURES Cross Border Partnership

 “This event has received financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation “EaSI” (2014-2020). For further information please consult: http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi

Speaker bios:

Dawn McLaughlin, President, Londonderry Chamber of Commerce

Dawn is the principal of the progressive, award winning accountancy practice, Dawn McLaughlin & Co.She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (FCA) and has a BSc (Hons) in Accounting and Economics. Dawn trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse where she managed the SME department in the North West branch before establishing her own practice.

For the past 34 yearsDawn has specialised in advising locally owned and managed SME’s throughout the UK and Ireland.Dawn is currently Chair of the Chartered Accountants North West Network, she has been the Chair of the Institute of Management – NW Ulster Branch, a member of the Regional Board for Northern Ireland and also on the Member Services Committee of the Ulster Society of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland as the NW representative and a member of the Board of the local leadership team of Business in the Community.

She was founder member of the Support My Business NI Initiative providing mentoring and workshops on a pro bono basis to Northern Ireland businesses.

Aidan O’Kane, Vice President, LondonderryChamber of Commerce

Aidan is a Director in Allstate and will be leading the Allstate Business Line Enablement Technology group within Allstate Northern Ireland whilst continuing his Leadership role within Allstate Canada, where he currently holds the position of Director of Production Health.

Aidan, based in Allstate NI’s Derry office, is driving production support strategy and vision for Allstate, through his global organisation across 3 different timezone.  Since graduating from Queen’s University B.Eng (Hons) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Aidan has worked in a number of global organisations including Ericsson, NEC, Answer Financial, Encompass Insurance and Allstate.

He has lived in global locations including around Europe, South America and Australia. He brings almost 25 years of Software Engineering experience to the role and has built out teams comprising of many different engineering disciplines, includingDevelopers, BAs, Product Managers, Test Engineers and Infrastructure Engineers.

Anne McDevitt, EURES Advisor

Anne has been a EURES Advisor and has been involved in cross border work since 2017.  Her work includes supporting jobseekers and employers on both sides of the border.

Brenda Hegarty, Donegal County Council

Brenda Hegarty is Assistant Head of Enterprise with Donegal County Council, working in the Local EnterpriseOffice helping entrepreneurs in the County to plan, start and grow theirbusiness as well as engaging in a wide range of enterprise initiatives atthe local and regional level.  With over 20 years experience working in cross border initiatives, Brenda has extensive experience in EU and CrossBorder funding.  Working as Programme Manager with the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) a cross-border body established under the Good Friday Agreement, Brenda was responsible for the implementation of key aspects of the EU’s PEACE and INTERREG programmes, totalling in excess of €1 billion.

Barbara Gibson, Department for Communities

Barbara Gibson is a EURES Cross Border Adviser from the Department for Communities. She has had a career of over 32 years as a civil servant in many Departments including Department of Employment and Learning (DEL), Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment (DHFETE) and Department of Economic Development (DED).

Barbara has been a EURES Transnational Adviser as well as Cross Border Adviser but all her energies are spent now on Cross Border Work, supporting the worker, employer and Jobseeker in the border region of Ireland – N Ireland.

Barbara will give an overview ofthe supports currently available through the Department for Communities and how employers can benefit from their help.

Mary Bruen, Department of Social Protection, Sligo

Mary is working in Employer Relations and her role involves linking with and supporting local employers across a widerange of sectors to access suitable candidates to match their job vacancies.

She also liaises with local and national agencies in the education, enterprise and recruitment sectors which enhances the opportunities to match relevant candidates to the employer’s needs.

In addition to those networking avenues, Mary has access to a number of policy supports including grant aided schemes which can assist employers in their recruitment decisions.

Shane O’Hanlon, InterTradeIreland

Shane O’Hanlon joined InterTradeIreland in 2018 as Manager of the Funding for Growth team. He and his team assist early stage businesses secure equity investment through a suite of supports and events including Equity Advisory Clinics, theSeedcorn Investor Readiness competition and the annual InterTradeIreland Venture Capital Conference. Shane has extensive experience of helping fundgrowing businesses having spent 15+ years in a range of business support roles within AIB and Ulster Bank. Shane is also responsible for the delivery of InterTradeIreland’s covid-19 Emergency Business Solutions (EBS) voucher scheme.