Written answers
Tuesday, 29 July 2025
Department of An Taoiseach
Small and Medium Enterprises
John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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1. To ask the Taoiseach the number of SME’s operating, by county for each of the years 2020 to 2024 and to date in 2025, in tabular form. [44075/25]
Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The number of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Less than 250 Employees) per county for the years 2020-2023 can be found below in Table 1. This is the most recent data available as data for 2024 and 2025 is not available yet. This covers NACE Sectors B to S excluding Sector O and excluding non-market enterprises. This data is collected from the CSOs Central Business Register.
Table 1: Number of SMEs active in each county, 2020 to 2023
| County | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlow | 3,555 | 3,784 | 4,033 | 4,148 |
| Dublin | 113,152 | 122,477 | 131,129 | 136,251 |
| Kildare | 14,140 | 15,181 | 16,017 | 16,727 |
| Kilkenny | 5,780 | 6,052 | 6,266 | 6,439 |
| Laois | 4,023 | 4,324 | 4,573 | 4,778 |
| Longford | 2,476 | 2,551 | 2,642 | 2,750 |
| Louth | 8,306 | 8,830 | 9,314 | 9,671 |
| Meath | 12,801 | 13,853 | 14,772 | 15,373 |
| Offaly | 4,287 | 4,466 | 4,702 | 4,873 |
| Westmeath | 6,038 | 6,257 | 6,608 | 6,782 |
| Wexford | 9,865 | 10,490 | 10,978 | 11,314 |
| Wicklow | 10,342 | 10,939 | 11,443 | 11,764 |
| Clare | 8,593 | 9,006 | 9,428 | 9,673 |
| Cork | 37,078 | 38,998 | 40,795 | 42,099 |
| Kerry | 10,874 | 11,413 | 12,034 | 12,340 |
| Limerick | 12,116 | 12,682 | 13,199 | 13,478 |
| Tipperary | 9,784 | 10,257 | 10,770 | 11,012 |
| Waterford | 6,965 | 7,385 | 7,643 | 7,927 |
| Galway | 18,624 | 19,658 | 20,476 | 21,161 |
| Leitrim | 2,418 | 2,545 | 2,635 | 2,664 |
| Mayo | 8,826 | 9,219 | 9,726 | 9,928 |
| Roscommon | 3,878 | 4,111 | 4,275 | 4,386 |
| Sligo | 4,252 | 4,407 | 4,622 | 4,725 |
| Cavan | 4,908 | 5,065 | 5,338 | 5,503 |
| Donegal | 10,494 | 11,104 | 11,780 | 12,120 |
| Monaghan | 4,075 | 4,284 | 4,501 | 4,691 |
Note: NACE Sectors B-S (Excluding O and S94) and excluding non-market enterprises.
John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
2. To ask the Taoiseach the details on the number of people employed by SME’s, by county for each of the years 2020 to 2024 and to date in 2025, in tabular form. [44076/25]
Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
The number of people employed by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Less than 250 Employees) per county for the years 2020-2023 can be found below in Table 1. This is the most recent data available as data for 2024 and 2025 is not available yet. This covers NACE sectors B to S excluding sector O and excluding non-market enterprises. This data is collected from the CSOs Central Business Register.
Table 1: Number of people employed by SMEs in each county, 2020 to 2023.
| County | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlow | 13,953 | 15,083 | 16,193 | 16,317 |
| Dublin | 417,394 | 452,682 | 503,866 | 507,821 |
| Kildare | 42,023 | 45,801 | 50,945 | 51,973 |
| Kilkenny | 18,355 | 19,643 | 20,785 | 20,860 |
| Laois | 11,800 | 12,734 | 14,057 | 14,348 |
| Longford | 7,059 | 7,762 | 8,439 | 8,125 |
| Louth | 28,418 | 30,326 | 33,495 | 33,724 |
| Meath | 36,512 | 40,488 | 44,606 | 45,658 |
| Offaly | 12,262 | 13,373 | 15,338 | 14,922 |
| Westmeath | 19,092 | 20,212 | 23,087 | 22,870 |
| Wexford | 30,473 | 33,848 | 36,929 | 37,320 |
| Wicklow | 25,511 | 27,636 | 30,873 | 30,951 |
| Clare | 22,659 | 24,113 | 26,971 | 25,891 |
| Cork | 120,211 | 129,667 | 143,236 | 145,422 |
| Kerry | 30,329 | 32,290 | 37,220 | 38,030 |
| Limerick | 41,127 | 44,518 | 49,844 | 49,763 |
| Tipperary | 28,431 | 30,248 | 33,213 | 32,988 |
| Waterford | 24,121 | 26,598 | 28,378 | 27,478 |
| Galway | 55,155 | 60,263 | 67,493 | 67,082 |
| Leitrim | 5,141 | 5,410 | 5,839 | 5,776 |
| Mayo | 24,180 | 26,101 | 29,013 | 29,985 |
| Roscommon | 10,290 | 11,211 | 12,555 | 12,428 |
| Sligo | 12,050 | 12,990 | 14,030 | 13,644 |
| Cavan | 15,260 | 16,709 | 18,225 | 18,246 |
| Donegal | 30,119 | 33,252 | 37,884 | 37,751 |
| Monaghan | 15,252 | 16,483 | 18,363 | 18,557 |
Note: NACE Sectors B-S (Excluding O and S94) and excluding non-market enterprises.
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