Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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207. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the supports that are available to a small start-up company; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18953/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are the ‘first-stop-shop’ for advice and guidance, financial assistance and other supports for anyone who intends to start or grow their own business.

In the first instance, the LEOs provide a ‘signposting’ service in relation to all relevant State support available through agencies such as Enterprise Ireland, Bord Bia, Údarás na Gaeltachta, Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Employment and Social Protection, Education and Training Boards, Credit Review Office, and Microfinance Ireland. The LEOs can also offer advice and guidance in areas such as Local Authority rates, public procurement and other regulations affecting business.

There are a range of supports available from the LEOs to assist start-ups. The LEOs can offer direct grant aid to microenterprises (10 employees or fewer) in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors which, over time, have the potential to develop into strong export entities. These include feasibility grants (investigating the potential of a business idea) and priming grants (to part-fund a start-up). In 2017, almost €6.5 million in priming grants was approved for 294 new LEO clients across the country. 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).

The LEOs may be able to offer ‘soft’ supports in the form of training, such as a Start Your Own Business (SYOB) course, or assign a mentor to work with the business proposer. Over 3,700 participants attended SYOB courses run by the LEOs in 2017.

Anyone with a viable business proposal can also use the LEOs 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. Successful applicants can avail of a more favourable interest rate from MFI if they make their application through the LEO.

There are 31 LEO’s located nationally. Further details and local contact information can be found at localenterprise.ie.

Finally I should mention an online toolkit that provides a range of information on State supports for the business sector the ‘Supporting SMEs’ Online Tool, which is a cross-governmental initiative to help start-ups navigate the range of Government business supports for which they could be eligible. The tool is available at www.supportingsmes.ie. By answering the eight 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;

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

- identify their nearest Local Enterprise Office where they can discuss the outcomes of the guide further;

- download all these filtered results into a document for their further use.