Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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134. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the supports available for small retailers who expand their business to include a hot food counter and seating area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8289/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are the ‘first-stop-shop’ State support service for micro and small businesses in each local area. The LEOs provide advice and direction, covering all government supports and requirements, to anyone who wishes to start or expand a business. They can also provide funding for projects that meet certain criteria, generally with regard to export potential, and other non-financial supports such as training and mentoring. In addition, any business can use the LEOs as a gateway to accessing finance from Micro Finance Ireland (MFI), which offers support in the form of loans of up to €25,000 to start-up, newly established or growing microenterprises employing less than 10 people with viable business propositions that do not meet the conventional risk criteria applied by the banks. The Fund available to MFI has a significant entrepreneurship focus and is open to anyone with a viable business proposal. Applications for the Microfinance Fund should be channelled through the local LEO. Further information can be found on the LEO website at .

Businesses can also access the ‘Supporting SMEs’ online search tool that was launched last year. The tool is a cross-governmental initiative in order to help Irish start-ups and small businesses navigate the range of Government business supports. It is available at .

By answering eight questions that take under a minute to complete in the Online Tool a small business will be able to:

- Find out which of the over 80 Government business supports from 27 different Government Departments, Agencies and Initiatives are available to them;

- Obtain information on the range of Government supports for accessing credit; and

- Identify their nearest Local Enterprise Office where they can discuss the outcomes of the guide further.