Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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129. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to outline the efforts being made to provide funding and support for small- and medium-sized enterprises in east Cork, especially new businesses which are struggling to turn a profit due to the high cost of setting up a new business. [25928/24]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) play an extremely important role at local level, as part of a supportive ecosystem, providing their services direct to small businesses and promoting entrepreneurship within towns and communities across the country. LEOs are the first stop shop for every business in the country. Co Cork is represented by 3 offices that cover Cork City, Cork North and West, and Cork South.

The LEO Policy Statement, which I launched on May 23rd last, captures the current level of activity of LEOs nationwide and outlines an agreed approach on how their work will adapt to contribute to the implementation of five of the priorities of the White Paper on Enterprise – decarbonisation, digitalisation, increasing exporters, enabling the locally traded sector to thrive, and stepping up enterprise innovation.

LEOs offer direct grant assistance to small businesses, particularly to those who are starting up. The Feasibility Grant provides funding to help with the cost of researching new business ideas, to see if it could be viable and sustainable, and the Priming Grant, helps businesses with the associated costs of start-up, and can be used to help fund capital costs, salaries, specialist consultancy and general overheads. In 2023, 630 small businesses received a total of €2.325m in direct grant aid from LEOs, which helped them to support 3,268 jobs in Co. Cork.

LEOs also provide consultancy and grants to small businesses of all sectors, in the areas of Green, Digital and Lean. These grants are focused on providing capital to assist in implementation of recommendations to digitalise or decarbonise a business. These grants also enhance the productivity and improve the competitiveness of small businesses.

Enterprise Ireland (EI) plays a pivotal role in fostering the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in east Cork and around Ireland. Recognizing the challenges faced by new businesses, particularly the financial strain of initial setup costs, EI offers a comprehensive suite of supports designed to aid these companies in achieving scale and realizing their global ambitions. For SMEs, this includes access to expert advice from development and market advisors, digital marketers, and technologists, all aimed at enhancing business capabilities and competitiveness.

Financial support is a cornerstone of EI’s strategy, with a range of grants and investments tailored to the needs of businesses at different stages of their growth journey. These funding options are crafted to support various aspects of business development, from market strategy formulation to expansion and job creation. For instance, the Strategic Consultancy Assignment grant enables SMEs to hire external consultants to improve efficiency and growth, while the Enterprise Emissions Reduction Investment Fund provides significant funding for decarbonisation processes, reflecting a commitment to sustainable business practices.

As the Deputy will be aware, last month, Government agreed a range of measures to assist small and medium size businesses to reduce their costs. Some of the key measures by my Department include increasing the maximum amount available under the Energy Efficiency Grant Scheme to €10,000 and reducing the business contribution rate from 50% to 25%. We are widening eligibility for the Trading Online Voucher, extending it to all sectors up to 50 employees, while also modernising the eligible expenditure and doubling the grant to €5,000. We are increasing the lending limit for Microfinance Ireland loans to €50,000 and we reopened the Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) Scheme for a further 14 days and introduced a second payment of ICOB for businesses in the retail and hospitality sectors. To date 4,191 businesses based in Co. Cork have received €10.13m through the ICOB scheme.