Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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467. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the grant schemes or supports available for a small-scale enterprise in County Galway (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30147/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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There are a wide range of supports in place to support anyone who wants to start their own business, and the Government is committed to supporting entrepreneurs throughout the country.

The Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), located within the 31 Local Authorities, have a key role to play in this as the first stop shop for small businesses in Ireland. The LEOs promote entrepreneurship, foster business start-ups, develop small businesses, drive job creation and provide accessible high-quality supports for small businesses within their areas.

The LEOs can provide direct grant assistance to small businesses to assist them to start up and grow, with priority given to enterprises in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors who have the potential to develop into exporting entities. These Measure 1 grants are not available to domestically trading areas such as retail, personal services, professional services or construction. The LEOs also provide business advice, training, and mentoring supports to anyone looking to start a business, including the Start Your Own Business programme. This programme is aimed at anyone who has a business idea they would like to develop, and also at those who have recently started their own business.

LEOs also provide a wide range of high-quality business and management development programmes, tailored to meet specific business requirements and can provide consultancy and grants to small businesses of all sectors, in the areas of Green, Digital and Lean. These supports are focused enhancing productivity and improving competitiveness in small businesses. The Green for Business and the Digital for Business schemes are open to all small businesses with up to 50 employees across all sectors. On completion of these schemes, participants can then apply for the Energy Efficiency Grant and the Grow Digital Voucher, which offer grants of up to €10,000 and €5,000 respectively.

I would recommend that any small business owner contact their Local Enterprise Office and ask to speak to a Business Advisor about the supports available to them.