The National Heritage Council looks to the future with its first smartphone app

Ireland’s National Heritage Council has taken to the future with the release of its first smartphone app, for National Heritage Week 2011.

The free National Heritage Week app is designed to provide tourists and the Irish alike with information about the forthcoming National Heritage Week of events, which take place from Saturday August 20 to Sunday August 28.

The week is part of the Europe-wide European Heritage Days, which are designed to promote awareness of regional architectural, natural, and cultural history which would otherwise be overlooked by locals.  The Heritage Council is responsible for protecting and preserving Ireland’s cultural history for future generations.

The app provides information about each of the 1,300 events taking place across the country during the week.  Users can search for events by date, event type, and location.  The app is tightly integrated into Facebook and allows users to create Facebook Events for different happenings taking place during the week, to which they can invite their Facebook friends.  The app also allows events to the shared on the social network as wall posts.

Speaking about the iPhone app Michael Starrett, CEO of the Heritage Council said, “we are seeing a true meeting of the old and the new with the launch today of this National Heritage Week iPhone app. A key element of National Heritage Week is its accessibility and inclusion of all, young and old. In addition to the dedicated Heritage Week website and Event Guide, production of this iPhone app is the next step in our commitment to promoting the diverse range of events taking place nationwide throughout the week”.

The app, which was developed by Arekibo Digital, is available in the Apple App Store.