Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

128. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the level of support provided under the trading online voucher scheme; the number of recipients over the past year in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown, County Dublin and by county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60495/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, the Trading Online Voucher Scheme is administered by the Local Enterprise Office network on behalf of my Department. This scheme aims to assist micro-enterprises in realising the potential of online trading and offers eligible businesses a voucher of up to €2,500 (50% co-funded by the recipient) to help them develop their online capacity.

This includes training sessions that cover various topics, such as developing a website, digital marketing, social media for business and search engine optimisation. The training and information provided is impartial and aims to help business owners decide on what trading online options, are right for their business.

The Scheme targets businesses with limited or no e-commerce presence and vouchers can be used towards adding payment facilities or booking systems to your website, developing new apps for your customers or towards subscriptions to low cost online retail platform solutions, which helps companies quickly establish a retailing presence online. There is also scope for the purchase of online advertising, but this cannot make up more than 30% of an approved voucher cost.

In response to the impact of COVID-19, previous voucher recipients are eligible to apply for a second voucher to further develop their online trading capacity.

Over the past two years, more than 1,000 vouchers have been approved by the Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Local Enterprise Office, to a value of €2.3m. This funding has had a significant impact on the recipient businesses, allowing them to continue trading in spite of the necessary restrictions.

So far this year the Scheme has seen 4,306 approvals, to a value of €9,323,886 in all LEOs, with 243 vouchers to a value of €495,479 in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown. The detail are set out in the following table.