Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 116: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if there is a grant scheme in place to assist a person (details supplied) in County Cork who is refurbishing a bar and restaurant. [11413/06]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My Department does not provide direct funding or grants to businesses but provides funding to a number of State agencies, including the county and city enterprise boards, Enterprise Ireland, Shannon Development and FÁS, through which assistance is delivered directly to businesses.

The county and city enterprise boards, CEBs, provide support to micro-enterprises with ten employees or fewer. The function of the CEBs is to develop indigenous enterprise potential and to stimulate economic activity at local level. Subject to certain eligibility criteria, enterprises may qualify for financial support from the CEBs in the form of feasibility, employment and capital grants or for non-financial support such as business advice and information, management development and training, mentoring and so forth.

All the CEBs operate to the same criteria regarding the assistance that they can offer, that is, they can support the establishment or development of new and existing enterprises by individuals, firms and community groups, provided that the projects, which should generally be in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sector, have the capacity to achieve commercial viability and over time may develop into strong exporting entities. In that regard, therefore, funding is unlikely to be available towards the costs of refurbishing a bar and restaurant.

The person concerned may, in the first instance, wish to contact North Cork County Enterprise Board, 26 Davis Street, Mallow, County Cork, telephone 022 43235, fax 022 43247, to determine whether he or she is eligible for any form of support from it.