Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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271. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of persons who accessed the local enterprise offices for their services in the Leinster region in the years 2014 and 2015; the number of staff currently employed in each location in Leinster; the amount of funding each location in Leinster has drawn down in the years 2014 and 2015; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21839/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) provide a wide variety of supports for the micro-enterprise and small business sector. These include Measure 1 capital grants (priming, business expansion and feasibility), so-called Measure 2 “soft” supports such as training and mentoring and a sign-posting and referrals service to other sources of support for the micro and small business sector. The LEOs also allocate online trading vouchers to eligible clients on behalf of the Department of Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources and support clients in making applications for loans from Micro Finance Ireland.

Details of the numbers of staff employed by the LEOs in Leinster and performance metrics in relation to the number of clients accessing LEO financial, training and mentoring supports in those LEOs are set out in Tables 1 to 4.

Table 1: LEO Staffing in Leinster

In addition, each of the LEOs bar LEOs Meath and Wexford have a business graduate appointed on a 2-year contact to assist in the development of LEO services.

Details of the funding payments under Measure 1 grants, along with the number of associated clients, made by the LEOs in Leinster for 2014 and 2015 are set out in Table 2.

Table 2: LEO Measure 1 Payments and Clients Paid

Table 3 provides details of the number of participants that accessed Measure 2 training and mentoring supports in the Leinster LEOs in 2014 and 2015.

Table 3: Number of Measure 2 Training and Mentoring Participant

Table 4 provides details of the number of applications received by each of the Leinster LEOs for the Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition, the number of LEO-assisted applications to Micro Finance Ireland (MFI) and the number and value of vouchers approved by the LEOs under the Trading Online Voucher Scheme for 2014 and 2015.

Table 4: IBYE, MFI and TOVS Details 2014-2015