Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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327. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will consider reopening the trading online voucher grant scheme to assist SMEs with the creation of an online presence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14006/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Grow Digital Voucher was launched on the 4th of September 2024. This new digital support has improved eligibility criteria including a wider range of digital supports available to a larger cohort of businesses, in comparison to the Trading Online Voucher (TOV). Additionally, the funding available was increased to up to €5,000 and the Government contribution remains at 50%. Grow Digital is available to small businesses in all sectors with up to 50 employees - compared to the TOV which was only available to businesses with up to 10 employees.

The objective of the Grow Digital Voucher is to help small businesses to implement the recommendations of a Digital for Business consultancy. Based on the consultancy, the Grow Digital Voucher can be used to boost efficiency, by streamlining operations and enhancing productivity using digital tools.

Eligible expenditure under this scheme supports a broader range of digital transformation projects compared to the TOV, including e-commerce software, e-invoicing software, cyber security software, as well as analytics software including Artificial Intelligence systems. The improvements in eligible expenditure for Grow Digital also means that website development subscriptions are supported and can be included as eligible expenditure.

The Grow Digital Voucher integrates and significantly improves on the parameters of the TOV in terms of expenditure and eligible businesses.