John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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138. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the measures being proposed by Government to enhance access to finance for scaling Irish SMEs, including in the context of additional funding provided in Budget 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55925/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Ireland has a strong start-up ecosystem, but scaling remains a challenge due to limited access to finance.

In July 2025, Minister Burke published the Report ‘Market Demand for and Supply of Scaling Finance in Ireland’, which identified a €1.1 billion funding gap for deals from €3 million and Series A+ rounds over the next 3–5 years.

To address these and broader challenges the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment is finalising a Finance for Scaling Implementation Strategy. This Strategy will align with the commitments outlined in the Programme for Government and supports the specific actions set out in the Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity.

The purpose of the Strategy is to move towards an ecosystem in which firms will have a reliable range of funding options throughout their enterprise journey. The Strategy will present a two-phased approach, with immediate market interventions to provide capital to the market in Phase One, including through an Enterprise Scaling Fund, administered by Enterprise Ireland.

The exact design features of the fund are currently being developed by my Department and Enterprise Ireland to have the fund in place as soon as possible. This work will be progressed over the coming months to have the fund in place in 2026.

It is important to note that the Enterprise Scaling fund is only part of a suite of instruments, to be delivered across two phases that will work to enhance the ecosystem and consequently reduce the gap in the market. The second Phase will develop policy actions to further incentivise private capital to invest more at the scaling stage.