Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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290. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the funding allocated to the Ireland’s best young entrepreneurs awards in each of the years 2014 to 2017; and the amount of this funding that was used each year. [51563/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Funding for the Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) initiative is just one of the ways in which the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are investing in entrepreneurs around the country. Capital funding for direct financial supports to the micro-enterprise sector (Measure 1 priming, business expansion and feasibility grants) and so-called “soft” supports for LEO clients, such as training and mentoring (Measure 2 supports) is also provided to the LEOs by my Department via the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Enterprise Ireland, who distribute the funding to individual LEOs.

I am very pleased with the strong level of interest in the IBYE competition around the country by young people who wish to start their own business, thanks to the time and effort invested by the LEOs. In total, 5,722 young people aged between 18 and 35 have entered over the four years of the initiative to date.

The local finals of the 2017/18 IBYE competition are taking place in every county at present, the regional finals will take place early in the New Year and the National Final will take place in early March 2018.

Investments ranging from €3,000 to €20,000 are made in the winners and runners up in each of three categories (Best New Idea, Best Start-up and Best Established Business) at local and national level, amounting to a total of 186 investments per annum across the 31 LEOs. 

Details of the funding allocated for the Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competitions in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and of the expenditure incurred to date, are set out in the following table:

IBYE Allocations and Expenditure 2014-end Sep 2017

It should be noted that there is a lag between funds being allocated and expenditure being incurred, due to the structure of the competition which spreads over successive years.