Meet the team member: Shea Doherty

“After completing my Leaving Certificate, I applied for a place at university to study quantity surveying and received an offer but always intended to take a year out first. My dad has his own business, and an opportunity came up to work with him in Dublin, as a plasterer. My uncle was the contractor, so we all lived together in a house Monday to Thursday, working together on site most of the week.

“Around that time I found out that I had an arrhythmic heartbeat and I was off for 6 months while they looked into it. It’s all managed now though with tablets and I feel well. While I was off work I bumped into Davin Doherty, who’s the Head of Customer Experience for Miconex Ireland. I’d worked for Davin when I was at school in his shop, and Davin asked how I was getting on and told me about a vacancy they had in the Miconex Ireland team in fulfilment. It was a temporary role initially supporting with fulfilling orders over Christmas. I knew it would be busy but I had no idea how busy, it was flat out with orders!

“I’d heard about the Town & City Gift Cards initiative before because my mum gets the ShopLK Gift card as a Christmas gift from work, and she’d often give the card to me to spend. Seeing how the Gift Cards work from the inside though was a whole new ballgame; learning how cards are loaded with funds, how businesses are onboarded to accept their local Town & City Gift Card, and how to help customers with queries. Today, if my mum ever has a question about whether a business accepts the ShopLK Gift Card, she calls me like I’m her wee support person!

“In February 2025 I started working for Miconex full time as a Customer Experience Executive, looking after customer queries, fulfilment and reporting. This means we have a person at the end of the phone, who is based in Ireland, for any clients, customers or corporate businesses who have questions. We’ll often get calls where someone has lost their card or put it in the washing machine, and I enjoy the problem solving that’s involved in helping them with their query.

“Here in Carndonagh where the Irish team is based, the Carndonagh Gift Card is huge. Downstairs is the Visit Carndonagh office where they sell the card, the posters are everywhere and the town recently upgraded its bins to include Carndonagh Gift Card posters too. I’ve had quite a few Carndonagh Gift Cards now, and have used them for everything to filling up the car to buying a Nintendo Switch. It feels better spending a Town & City Gift Card over a regular Gift Card because you know it’s helping out local. The digital version of the card is really handy as I can just put it directly onto my phone. And a lot of people are the same now; they don’t carry a wallet.

“Everyone knows about the Carndonagh Gift Card and everyone really likes it. But even when I travel to the other side of the country, to Wexford or Waterford, they all know and love their local Town & City Gift Card. It feels good to know I’ve played a part in that.”