Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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232. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on how the process for determining eligibility for digital grants and consultancy for SMEs will be reformed, as proposed in the Programme for Government, and if business groups will be included in consultations on the planned reforms. [4066/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Government has already brought forward significant changes to eligibility criteria for the Local Enterprise Office digitalisation schemes.

Digital Start was first introduced in 2022 and is now called Digital for Business. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the eligibility criteria for the Digital for Business consultancy scheme has been widened to make businesses with up to 50 employees eligible for the scheme, regardless of sector.

Digital for Business is designed to help businesses prepare and implement a plan for the adoption of digital tools and techniques across the business. It provides strategic intervention for businesses to work with third party consultants for up to 3 days to:

* assist them in identifying where they are on their digital business journey,

* develop a digital adaptation plan based on their identified need,

* implement their digital adaptation plan.

The Grow Digital Voucher was introduced as a replacement to the Trading Online Voucher scheme in September 2024. Under this new offer, the funding available to applicants has been increased to up to €5,000 and the eligibility criteria expanded to cover a wider range of digital interventions available to a broader range of businesses compared to the Trading Online Voucher.

Based on a Digital for Business Project report completed within the previous two years, the Grow Digital Voucher can be used to boost efficiency, by streamlining operations and enhancing productivity using digital tools. It can help a business to reach more customers through online sales and marketing and will help businesses to stay competitive by bridging the digital gap allowing them to stay competitive in today’s marketplace.

The LEO Policy Statement 2024 – 2030 which 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. In particular, it emphasises the intent to make consultancy available to a broader range of locally traded businesses in the areas of Lean, Green and Digital.

Action 7 of the Policy statement sets out the commitment by the LEOs to positively contribute to assisting small businesses towards the goal of 90% basic digital intensity by 2030. This is being achieved through the changes made to the eligibility criteria and allowable expenditure of the LEO Digital supports, which have been reviewed and streamlined so that small businesses with up to 50 employees in almost all sectors are now eligible for consultancy through the Digital for Business programme and subsequently grant assistance through the new Grow Digital Voucher.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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233. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to outline his Department’s approach to ensuring that small businesses are helped to achieve basic digital intensity, towards the target of 90% by 2030. [4067/25]

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The National Digital Strategy, Harnessing Digital - The Digital Ireland Framework, outlines the government’s goals for enterprise digital transformation, particularly among SMEs. It aims for 90% of SMEs to achieve at least a basic level of digital intensity by 2030.

My department and the enterprise agencies continue to make concerted efforts to make digital adoption for businesses much more simplified and straightforward. The Grow Digital Portal, funded by the Digital Transition Fund (DTF), highlights digital opportunities while offering advice and supports to businesses. It has a case study catalogue with digital success stories showcasing how different (non tech) businesses have embraced digital solutions to boost their operations. The case studies are promoted across social media to reach as many businesses as possible.

The Local Enterprise Offices offer a range of digitalisation supports to eligible businesses, including the Grow Digital Voucher, which offers businesses with up to 50 employees financial support of 50% of expenditure up to €5,000. This can be used to invest in technology such as online booking, stock control, AI, customer insights, payroll software, and cyber security. Also, the LEOs Digital for Business initiative provides digital consultants to help businesses identify potential gaps and explore opportunities to optimise existing systems.

The Digital Transition Fund (DTF) is one element of Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRF) and will run until 2026 and sets a target of at least 800 businesses supported. Through this fund, we are increasing the digitalisation of all businesses across their products, processes, supply chains and business models.

This work will be complemented by Ireland’s four European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs). These hubs serve as one-stop-shops for business, providing access to technical expertise, innovation services and skills development to help businesses become more competitive using digital technologies including Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, and High-Performance Computing.

Enterprise Ireland makes a suite of supports available to eligible businesses, to help them develop a strategic roadmap for digital transition and to support companies seeking to invest in the implementation of new or significantly improved production and service delivery.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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234. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment how his Department plans to promote the new grow digital voucher to SMEs. [4068/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Using the Communications channels of the network of the 31 Local Enterprise Offices, the Grow Digital portal and the National Enterprise Hub, we want to get the message out that deploying digital tools and technologies, including AI-based tools, can help our small businesses to save time and money, and ultimately make them more competitive.

The Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), located within each of the 31 Local Authorities, play an extremely important role at local level, as part of a supportive ecosystem, providing their services to small businesses, promoting entrepreneurship and contributing to jobs growth within towns and communities across the county.

The LEO Policy Statement 2024 – 2030, 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. In particular, it emphasises the intent to make consultancy in the areas of Lean, Green and Digital available to a broader range of locally traded businesses.

Action 7 of the Policy statement sets out the commitment by the LEOs to positively contribute to assisting small businesses towards the goal of 90% basic digital intensity by 2030. This will be achieved through the changes made to the eligibility criteria and allowable expenditure of the LEO Digital supports, which have been reviewed and streamlined so that small businesses with up to 50 employees in almost all sectors are now eligible for consultancy through the Digital for Business programme and subsequently grant assistance through the new Grow Digital Voucher.

The LEOs actively promote the Grow Digital Portal, which was launched by my Department in 2024, and is funded by the Digital Transition Fund (DTF). The portal highlights digital opportunities while offering advice and supports to businesses. It has a case study catalogue with digital success stories showcasing how different businesses have embraced digital solutions to boost their operations. The case studies are promoted across social media to reach as many businesses as possible.

The portal provides bespoke advice and recommendations and highlights supports available from government through agencies such as the Local Enterprise Offices, Enterprise Ireland, Údarás na Gaeltachta and IDA Ireland, alongside additional training and funding options.

The National Enterprise Hub (NEH), which is funded by my Department, is an all-of-government service that brings together information on over 230 government supports from 23 different Departments and State Agencies. This information can be accessed through the NEH website, or by speaking to a member of the NEH team of advisors by phone or via live chat. The NEH is an invaluable resource for SMEs and will greatly assist them in identifying the supports available to them to meet their business needs.