Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 February 2026
438. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment to provide a breakdown of funding provided to Local Enterprise Office’s in Cork city and county over the past three years; the number of grants awarded and jobs supported or created; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14062/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe three Local Enterprise Offices in Cork city and county play an extremely important role, as part of a supportive ecosystem, providing their services direct to small businesses and promoting entrepreneurship within towns and communities across the city and county.
My Department provides funding to the Local Enterprise Offices in Cork and across Ireland. LEO funding is allocated to each of the 31 Local Authorities based on a distribution model agreed in the Service Level Agreements in place between Enterprise Ireland and the 31 Local Authorities.
This capital funding is used to support enterprise development through direct grant aid, productivity supports, and capability training and development interventions.
The 2025 Annual Employment Survey of LEO clients once again shows positive job creation across most of the Local Enterprise Offices including those based in Cork, where 3,200 jobs were supported by 620 small businesses, showing a net gain of 233 jobs.
The figures accounted for in the annual employment survey only relate to LEO clients that have received direct financial grant assistance from the LEO and does not include the number of small businesses and associated jobs that have received training, mentoring or other supports such as the Grow Digital Voucher, Green for Business, Lean for Business, Digital for Business and Energy Efficiency Grants (EEG).
Funding provided to Cork LEOs: 2023 - 2025
|
Funding provided |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
Non-Pay |
1,269,531 |
1,259,150 |
1,278,219 |
|
Capital |
3,610,351 |
4,390,525 |
5,511,965 |
Grant Support provided (Feasibility, Priming, Business Expansion, Market Explorer Grant) by Cork LEOs:
|
Measure 1 Grant supports |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
No Of Projects Approved |
116 |
157 |
137* |
|
No of Clients Approved |
97 |
128 |
120* |
|
Approved Amount |
€2,325,927 |
€1,740,808 |
€3,112,612* |
|
No. of Projects Paid |
139 |
160 |
161* |
|
No of Clients Paid |
115 |
131 |
132* |
|
Amount Paid |
€1,505,157 |
€1,611,104 |
€2,121,720* |
Note: The Local Enterprise Offices have yet to finalise the results for 2025 an as such these represent preliminary figures
Employment figures for Cork LEOs:
|
Annual Employment results |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
No. of Clients |
630 |
618 |
620 |
|
Jobs supported |
3268 |
3076 |
3200 |
|
Jobs Gains |
714 |
619 |
615 |
|
Net Jobs |
244 |
119 |
233 |
