Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 October 2025
364. Deputy Johnny Mythen asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the steps being taken to ensure that rural enterprises and businesses in County Wexford remain funded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57203/25]
View answerDeveloping Ireland’s enterprise base remains a key focus for Government and my Department is committed to backing small businesses and start-ups, to help them to scale up and grow into exporting entities in every county across the country.
The Programme for Government commits to ensuring Local Enterprise Offices are fully resourced to support local businesses. The importance of continuing to fund the LEOs is reflected in the steady increase in the annual budget allocation over the 11 years since their establishment.
The Local Enterprise Office (LEO) in Wexford continues to play an extremely important role, as part of this supportive ecosystem, providing their services direct to small businesses and promoting entrepreneurship within towns and communities across the county.
The LEO contributes to the development of economic strategies such as the Local Economic and Community Plans and ensures that an enterprise perspective is brought to bear on various Local Authority and regional plans and frameworks.
The LEO offers direct grant assistance to small businesses, specifically designed for growth or exporting, aimed at small businesses in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors. The LEO provide training and advice on entrepreneurship and helping businesses to start, grow and deal with the challenges of running a business.
To assist small and medium enterprises to tackle the rising cost of doing business the LEOs provide consultancy and grants, in the areas of Lean, Green, and Digital, to small businesses in all sectors. These supports focus on enhancing productivity and improving competitiveness in all small businesses.
