Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for his question on the National Enterprise Hub which was established on 10 July 2024 and since then, the NEH has handled more than 6,000 inquiries from businesses. Monthly numbers have increased consistently and 773 were received in May alone. The primary goal of the NEH is to improve access to Government supports for businesses. We also want to simplify access and reach businesses that have never availed of the many different supports on offer. While my Department leads on the NEH overall, it is run by Enterprise Ireland, EI, and it is very much a whole of Government approach. The NEH has expanded considerably in the last year and now offers information and support on more than 250 Government supports from 30 different Government bodies. The NEH continues to undergo developments to refine and improve its services and to enhance the manner in which data is captured and used to ensure it is providing useful insights that can be used to inform policy.

In terms of the most popular supports, the top three most searched categories in May this year were, as the Deputy might expect; grants and funding; loans, training and programmes; and advice and mentoring. The top inquiries received by the NEH team in May were: fund your start-up; become more digital; and get support to expand. They relate to scaling up, digitalisation and AI and seed funding for start-ups. The top individual supports were the local enterprise office, LEO, supports start your own business; the grow digital voucher; LEO and EI feasibility studies; Micro Finance Ireland loans; the LEO energy efficiency grant and the revenue start-up relief for entrepreneurs. SOLAS micro-qualifications, the SBCI growth and sustainability loan scheme, social protection job plus and Skillnet Ireland networking also featured as popular supports.

I am learning every day of all the different schemes and supports that are there so something like this that pulls all of that together and gives it to the business community is essential.

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