Ministers announce nearly €2m funding for micro-enterprises across Ireland

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD  and Minister of State for Employment & Small Business Pat Breen TD confirm that through a reallocation of funding Local Enterprise Offices are receiving €1.85m for LEO clients

Today the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation Mary Mitchell O’Connor, T.D., and Minister of State for Employment & Small Business Pat Breen announced details of a further allocation of €1.85m in Capital funding that is being made available to 15 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) to assist micro-enterprises in creating local jobs. This funding is being made available to those LEOs that have identified a pipeline of demand for financial assistance for projects that can be initiated this year.

The funding will be available for use by the LEOs to provide direct Capital grant assistance to micro-enterprises within their County. These supports are aimed at assisting entrepreneurs to start-up or expand their business. It is expected that the funding will assist micro-enterprises to create or sustain over 300 jobs across the country.

The LEOs support some 6,500 client micro-enterprises across the country and last year created over 7,100 new full and part-time jobs.

When making the announcement Minister Mitchell O’Connor said “Since their establishment in April 2014, the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) have been facing increased demand for their services as the economy recovers. I am pleased to be able to enable the LEOs to cater for identified demand by adjusting the allocation of the Capital funding available for local enterprise development this year. This re-allocation of €1.85m in local enterprise development Capital funding will help the LEOs to support micro-enterprises to create or sustain over 300 jobs in LEOs across the country.”

I would encourage all micro and small business owners to engage with the LEO for their area, even if they don’t currently need financial support; I think they would be surprised at the quality and usefulness of the supports that would be made available to them.”

When making the announcement Minister Breen said “I am pleased that micro enterprises across the country are being further supported today to assist them in creating or sustaining local jobs that are the back bone of our economy.  The Local Enterprise Offices are a key service in supporting these entrepreneurs or existing businesses and they provide an excellent first-stop-shop service for micro and small businesses in every county in Ireland..”

Details of the allocations to individual LEOs are set out below.

LEO Measure 1 Funding
Cavan €70,000
Clare €245,000
Cork North/ West €90,000
Cork South €250,000
Dublin City €150,000
Dublin South €55,000
Dun Laoghaire/ Rathdown €45,000
Fingal €115,000
Kilkenny €55,000
Limerick €200,000
Louth €250,000
Mayo €80,000
Sligo €40,000
Tipperary €80,000
Westmeath €125,000
TOTAL €1,850,000

ENDS