Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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1280. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if there is grant assistance or other supports available for SME companies in the services sector towards the cost of helping them with the cost of the required training courses when employing new staff (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13551/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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There are over 170 different Government supports for Irish based start-ups and small businesses. 'Supportingsmes.ie' is a cross-governmental initiative to help start-ups and small businesses navigate the range of Government supports available.

By answering the eight quick questions in the Online Tool, a small business will, in one location be able to:

- Find out which of the over 170 Government business supports from 27 different Government Departments, Agencies and Initiatives are available to them; and

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

The tool is available at: www.supportingsmes.ie

The company in question might also like to make contact with its Local Enterprise Office. The 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) nationwide are the ‘first-stop-shop’ for providing advice and guidance, financial assistance and other supports to those wishing to start or grow their own business.

In the first instance, the LEOs provide a ‘signposting’ service in relation to all relevant State supports available through Agencies such as Revenue, the Department of Social Protection, Education and Training Boards, Skillnets and Microfinance Ireland. The LEOs also offer advice and guidance in areas such as Local Authority rates, Public Procurement and other regulations of relevance to micro-enterprises and SMEs.

The LEOs can offer direct grant aid to microenterprises (up to 10 employees) in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sector which, over time, have the potential to develop into strong export entities. Subject to certain eligibility criteria, the LEOs can provide financial assistance within three main categories, i.e., Feasibility Grants (investigating the potential of a business idea) Priming Grants (to part-fund a start-up) and Business Development grants for existing businesses that want to expand. (It should be noted that the LEOs do not provide direct grant-aid to areas such as retail, personal services, local professional services, construction/local building services, as it may give rise to the displacement of existing businesses).

For anyone interested in starting or growing a business, the LEOs may be able to offer ‘soft’ support in the form of training and/or provide a mentor to work directly with the business proposer. The suite of training programmes provided by the LEOs covers a variety of business functions such as: financial management, sales & marketing, social media, HR, operations, customer care, innovation, competitiveness and management development.

Anyone with a viable business proposal can also use the LEO to make an application to Microfinance Ireland, which offers support in the form of loans of up to €25,000 to start-ups with viable business propositions that do not meet the conventional risk criteria applied by the banks.

Further information on the services available from the LEOs can be accessed at www.localenterprise.ie.