Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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46. To ask the Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment if budget 2021 has provided further support for local enterprise offices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35041/20]

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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The Tanaiste and I are committed to ensuring that the 31 Local Enterprise Offices, as the first stop shop for local businesses, are sufficiently resourced to tackle the dual challenges of Brexit and COVID–19.  In pursuit of that objective, additional capital funding of €11 million for the Local Enterprise Offices was announced in Budget 2021.  This additional funding will provide for an expected increase in demand for financial assistance and tailored training programmes for small and micro enterprises impacted by both Brexit and COVID-19.

The Local Enterprise Offices are at the forefront in helping enterprises during the current crisis and delivering key initiatives such as the Business Continuity Vouchers, Trading Online Vouchers, the Micro-Enterprise Assistance Fund, and MicroFinance Ireland loans. They have also continued to deliver on their core business supports such as feasibility, priming and business expansion grants and ongoing mentoring and training modules which where moved to an online platform to accommodate COVID-19 Restrictions.

The additional resources in Budget 2021 will be used to advance programmes and initiatives in furtherance of key enterprise policy objectives of supporting green enterprise, digitisation and financial capability in small enterprises.

The Local Enterprise Offices will increase one to one engagement with clients to identify innovation and technology challenges delivering appropriate solutions. A core focus is to support owner manager capability and development. Developing the confidence and driving the ambition of local firms to scale and compete will continue to be a priority in the coming year.