Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 July 2026
1036. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the supports available to assist family-owned food manufacturing and agri-business enterprises with succession planning, digital transformation and business expansion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57023/26]
View answerI would encourage any small business owner to contact their Local Enterprise Office (LEO). The LEOs are located within the 31 Local Authorities and offer productivity, and mentoring supports to small businesses in any sector as well as direct grant support to small businesses in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors.
The LEOs provide training and mentorship, administered by experts who are well versed in the broad range of supports available to small businesses no matter what stage of development their business is at. For small business owners looking for guidance or advice I would highly encourage engaging with the LEO mentor programme.
For small businesses interested in digital transformation there is the Digital for Business programme, designed to help businesses prepare and implement a plan for the adoption of digital tools and techniques across the business. It provides up to 3 days free consultancy around strategic intervention for businesses to work with third party consultants to assist them in identifying where they are on their digital business journey, develop a digital adaptation plan based on their identified need and implement their digital adaptation plan.
Based on a Digital for Business Project report completed within the previous two years, the Grow Digital Voucher offers funding of up to €5,000 or 50% of eligible costs for new cloud-based software subscriptions for 1 year, including training and consultancy to set up this software.
The Business Expansion grant is the key LEO support which can assist a business in its growth phase after the initial 18-month start-up period. Also, the Market Explorer grant, can be used to part-fund expenses to explore either a new geographic market for an existing product/service or an existing geographic market for a new product/service. However, it should be noted that these supports cannot be provided to businesses in areas such as personal services, local retail, or local professional services as it may give rise to displacement of businesses in the locality.
More generally, I would refer anyone looking for assistance with their business to explore the supports available through Government on the National Enterprise Hub (NEH). The NEH was established as a signposting service to simplify access to information on grants and supports for businesses.
The NEH is staffed with trained advisors within Enterprise Ireland who can assess the specific needs of a business and connect them with the most appropriate supports or agencies and now includes over 250 different supports for businesses from 32 Government bodies.
