Michael Ring
Question:137 Deputy Michael Ring asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if grant aid is available for a project (details supplied). [40395/09]
View answerTuesday, 10 November 2009
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Written answers
The 35 County and City Enterprise Boards (CEBs) provide a source of support to small businesses with ten employees or fewer. Subject to certain eligibility criteria new and developing enterprises may qualify for financial (grant) support from the CEBs. All of the CEBs operate to the same criteria in relation to the assistance which they can offer i.e. they can support the establishment and/or the development of enterprises provided that the projects, which should generally be in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sector, have the capacity to achieve commercial viability and which over time may develop into strong exporting entities. In addition, the CEBs deliver a range of non-financial supports to improve management capability development within micro-enterprises designed to help new and existing enterprises to operate effectively and efficiently so as to last and grow.
However, I would stress that priority is given to projects in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors. It is considered inappropriate to support other areas such as retail enterprises, personal services (e.g. hairdressers, gardeners, etc), professional services (accountants, solicitors, etc), construction, as it is considered that these enterprises generally give rise to unacceptable deadweight (where projects would have proceeded anyway) and/or displacement (where the projects simply displace business from other players in the market) concerns.
As detailed above, not all projects fall within the CEB eligibility criteria for grant assistance, however, the company are advised to contact their local CEB to discuss matters in greater detail. In addition to providing direct financial assistance, the CEBs also provide a range of indirect business advice and information assistances such as mentoring services, management capability training and development programmes, e-Commerce training initiatives, and the delivery of targeted Programmes to promote female entrepreneurship; these services may be available to the company. In order to more fully explore the range of options that may be available to them, they should initially contact their local County or City Enterprise Board (contact details of which are available at their national website www.enterpriseboards.ie), to discuss their business needs with the relevant staff of the board.