Fair play to the staff at AIB in Dundalk who got behind GOAL jersey day today.
Each staff member donned their favourite colours as part of a fundraiser for the charity.
After last night’s superb victory for Ireland against Germany green was the predominant colour.
A great effort by all those at the Clanbrassil Street branch.
AIB in Dundalk
AIB Dundalk will host a mortgage information evening on Wednesday evening from6pm to 8pm.
All are welcome to pop in to the branch in Clanbrassil Street that evening to meet the bank’s mortgage teams and to discuss your options regarding a mortgage.
Further details on AIB mortgages can be found here.
An artist’s impression of what the new St Mary’s College school would look like
Building work has commenced this week on the new post-primary school at St Mary’s College.
The news was announced today in Dublin by Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin. The building work is part of the government’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) programme and will be built by BAM and funded by AIB Corporate Banking and German bank KfW IPEX-Bank.
In total 720 jobs will be generated during the construction phase at St Mary’s College and in three other projects in Tulla, Co Clare, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary and Skibbereen, Co Cork.
With accommodation for up to 900 pupils, the new St Mary’s College post-primary school will have specialist classrooms for subjects including technology, construction studies, home economics and design while there will also be a learning support room. There will also be a library, purpose-built science laboratories, a music/drama room with staging area, over 20 general classrooms, a physical education hall with changing and fitness suites. The plans also include a general purpose hall as well as catering, staff offices and other ancillary space.
External works will provide five ball courts, GAA playing and training pitches, covered bicycle racks, landscaping and 65 car parking spaces. Some 17 of the almost 130 trees on the campus will have to be felled with seven of these identified as requiring removal as they are diseased. In addition, the ground level of the site is being raised in areas as a flood prevention measure.
It is hoped that the new school will be ready for classes to commence in September 2016.
In other school related news, new extensions have been given the go ahead for St Joseph’s NS in Muirhevnamor and CBS Primary School in Chapel Street.
Dearbhla McDonald of MacDoll Boutique
Local woman Dearbhla McDonald will be launching her new store, MacDoll Boutique, in Dublin this Friday.
The boutique – which will sell a range of women’s skirts, jackets, dresses, jeans, boots, bags, blouses and accessories – will be located at 4/5 Grafton Street, opposite River Island and AIB and above Swarovski.
The Ravensdale woman established MacDoll earlier this year, with a range of top designers on sale.
Her new store has been in the works for some time and will open at 10.30am this Friday with a champagne reception. Be sure to pop in if you’re in Dublin in the build-up to Christmas but if you can’t wait that long you can still shop online at www.macdoll.com
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Bank of Ireland has confirmed it is experiencing technical difficulties which have resulted in funds not going through to the bank accounts of some civil servants, teachers and gardaí.
The problem is affecting both staff locally and nationwide.
The bank says payments to staff at the Department of Justice and Department of Education should be processed tomorrow morning.
It is still working to resolve the problem.
AIB says it has been advised that there is an issue with incoming credit transfers from Bank of Ireland.
Last week AIB help a Start-Up Academy event in the Spirit Store, aimed at entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs from the area.
On the night Sonya Lennon from Lennon Courtney design label and Tom McGuinness of Horseware Ireland were the guest speakers.
However, those in attendance have also had a chance to have their say courtesy of a video put together on the night by men’s website Joe.ie.
Amongst those interviewed is former publican turned social media entrepreneur, Kevin Carthy.
Check it out above.
A local credit union is one of a handful around the country set to take on the banks by introducing electronic payment options to its members.
Cuchulainn Credit Union on the Ramparts Road is one of a handful set to apply to the Central Bank for approval to offer debit cards.
This will mean that it will be able to offer an alternative to the current accounts currently offered in banks with people becoming more and more frustrated by the level of charges and fees for day-to-day banking services that are being charged by the likes of AIB, Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank and others.
It is estimated that a family with two current accounts will pay €260 in fees and charges this year but this would be eliminated by a credit union account.
The roll out of the electronic payments infrastructure is already available in Carrickmacross and will come to Dundalk’s Cuchulainn Credit Union by the end of April.
This will allow members to have their wages or pension paid directly to their member accounts, with electronic payments able to be taken out for various bills and other direct debits. A debit card would also mean they could withdraw money when needed or pay at the till when paying for items.
Other credit unions are set to follow suit with 60 more set to follow in Cuchulainn’s footsteps by September according to the Credit Union Service Organisation for Payments (CUSOP), who are handling the roll-out of the new service.
AIB in Dundalk
A leading finance lecturer has hit out at three of the country’s main banks for imposing high fees on their customers here, while offering fee-free banking north of the border.
DCU’s Michael Dowling says that no fees were imposed on customers of AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank in the North, while fees for a family with two current accounts could cost €260 a year here.
AIB requires current account holders in the Republic to keep a balance of at least €2,500 to avoid fees of up to 35c per transaction.
Bank of Ireland has a quarterly fee of €5 whether or not the account is in balance. And customers are hit by fees of up to 40c per transaction if they fail to keep at least €3,000 in the account throughout the quarter.
Ulster Bank charges €12 a quarter unless customers in the Republic lodge €3,000 into their account or maintain a cleared balance of at least €3,000 in their account every three months.
Dr Dowling told The Irish Independent that, collectively, consumers here were shelling out €192m a year in extra current account fees compared with consumers in Northern Ireland, when taking account of different-sized populations.
He said that a woman in Dundalk who banks with AIB, and whose taxes helped rescue the bank, was having fees and charges of around €130 a year imposed. Her sister in Newry, who banks with AIB’s First Trust operation there, was able to avoid fees and charges.
The banks claim they are forced to offer fee-free banking in the North because of greater competition in the market.
Despite the high fees, a number of locals have been critical of the queuing times in local bank branches, particularly in AIB and Bank of Ireland in Clanbrassil Street.
Fiona McLaughlin has reported that an old man has just collapsed while waiting in a queue at the AIB branch in Dundalk.
Apparently the problem was exasperated by the failure of staff to open another window.
Admittedly, queues in local banks can be tedious with the pillar banks AIB and Bank of Ireland amongst the worst offenders. Indeed, it’s often easier to buy cakes, buns or even furniture in some of the banks rather than get at your hard earned cash.
Still, at least you’re being charged for the pleasure of it… with both banks having recently announced increased charges for customers.
Here’s hoping the old man is all right. For the rest of us the wait for decent customer service goes on…
Source: Fiona McLaughlin (Twitter)
Talk of the Town 