Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy said, social enterprises are an important and growing part of Ireland's entrepreneurship ecosystem. They create jobs and stimulate local economic activity and they are recognised as an integral part of Ireland's broad enterprise policy landscape.

My colleague, the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys, launched Trading for Impact 2024-2027 - Ireland's National Social Enterprise Policy, last July, to build on the achievements of Ireland's first social enterprise policy. This policy was developed following widespread consultation with stakeholders, including officials in my Department.

Social enterprises are eligible for local enterprise office, LEO, assistance, provided they operate on a commercial basis and meet the eligibility criteria any other company needs to meet for the scheme. As the Deputy is aware, the LEOs offer a range of lean, green and digital supports that are designed to help businesses save time, money and energy and to remain competitive into the future. Many social enterprises may be eligible for supports such as the free digital for business consultancy, the grow digital voucher, the free green for business consultancy, the energy efficiency grant, and the LEO suite of training and mentoring programmes.

There has been positive engagement between officials in my Department, the Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland, SERI, and officials in the Department of Rural and Community Development who have responsibility for social enterprise policy. This engagement led to the arrangement of a webinar last month for training purposes for LEO staff on the topic of social enterprises.

The Deputy will probably also be aware of the new National Enterprise Hub, which provides a centralised signposting support service to the 230 Government or agency supports in areas such as decarbonisation, digitalisation and skills development.

The Deputy also asked about Enterprise Ireland. There is a collaborative relationship between it and SERI. Provided that social entrepreneurs meet the usual EI conditions, that is, that they are manufacturing or internationally trading and can create more than ten full-time jobs, they are eligible for Enterprise Ireland support. There are ways for them to access support from both Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs. I hope that is helpful.

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