The Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) provide a wide variety of supports for the micro-enterprise and small business sector. These include Measure 1 capital grants (priming, business expansion and feasibility), so-called Measure 2 “soft” supports such as training and mentoring and a sign-posting and referrals service to other sources of support for the micro and small business sector. The LEOs also allocate online trading vouchers to eligible clients on behalf of the Department of Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources and support clients in making applications for loans from Micro Finance Ireland.
Details of the numbers of staff employed by the LEOs in Leinster and performance metrics in relation to the number of clients accessing LEO financial, training and mentoring supports in those LEOs are set out in Tables 1 to 4.
Table 1: LEO Staffing in Leinster
LEO
|
Current Staffing
|
Carlow
|
3
|
Dublin City
|
9
|
Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown
|
6
|
Dublin Fingal
|
7
|
Dublin South
|
7
|
Kildare
|
4
|
Kilkenny
|
3
|
Laois
|
3
|
Longford
|
3
|
Louth
|
5
|
Meath
|
5
|
Offaly
|
5
|
Westmeath
|
5
|
Wexford
|
5
|
Wicklow
|
5
|
In addition, each of the LEOs bar LEOs Meath and Wexford have a business graduate appointed on a 2-year contact to assist in the development of LEO services.
Details of the funding payments under Measure 1 grants, along with the number of associated clients, made by the LEOs in Leinster for 2014 and 2015 are set out in Table 2.
Table 2: LEO Measure 1 Payments and Clients Paid
-
|
2014
|
2015
|
LEO
|
Clients
|
Amount
|
Clients
|
Amount
|
Carlow
|
37
|
€340,671
|
25
|
€195,636
|
Dublin City
|
68
|
€686,859
|
56
|
€602,065
|
Dún Laoghaire / Rathdown
|
46
|
€501,815
|
33
|
€390,449
|
Dublin Fingal
|
39
|
€502,520
|
46
|
€698,616
|
Dublin South
|
29
|
€331,265
|
37
|
€375,977
|
Kildare
|
17
|
€240,568
|
17
|
€214,422
|
Kilkenny
|
32
|
€454,276
|
26
|
€243,868
|
Laois
|
12
|
€185,410
|
10
|
€244,659
|
Longford
|
35
|
€241,048
|
25
|
€182,677
|
Louth
|
26
|
€225,203
|
27
|
€195,023
|
Meath
|
20
|
€143,098
|
28
|
€166,085
|
Offaly
|
27
|
€327,183
|
26
|
€292,979
|
Westmeath
|
30
|
€300,332
|
38
|
€321,587
|
Wexford
|
37
|
€347,588
|
26
|
€303,780
|
Wicklow
|
35
|
€482,945
|
35
|
€393,945
|
|
967
|
€10,931,992
|
928
|
€10,048,453
|
Table 3 provides details of the number of participants that accessed Measure 2 training and mentoring supports in the Leinster LEOs in 2014 and 2015.
Table 3: Number of Measure 2 Training and Mentoring Participant
-
|
Training
|
Mentoring
|
-
|
2014
|
2015
|
2014
|
2015
|
LEO
|
Total Participants
|
Total Participants
|
Total Participants
|
Total Participants
|
Carlow
|
1,754
|
1,296
|
98
|
114
|
Dublin City
|
1,581
|
1,759
|
1,059
|
1,560
|
Dún Laoghaire / Rathdown
|
1,302
|
1,377
|
439
|
427
|
Dublin Fingal
|
1,443
|
1,504
|
825
|
766
|
Dublin South
|
667
|
722
|
424
|
487
|
Kildare
|
1,050
|
1,008
|
311
|
411
|
Kilkenny
|
693
|
828
|
273
|
335
|
Laois
|
416
|
562
|
85
|
193
|
Longford
|
367
|
331
|
87
|
73
|
Louth
|
533
|
413
|
50
|
85
|
Meath
|
304
|
460
|
360
|
416
|
Offaly
|
492
|
540
|
71
|
98
|
Westmeath
|
948
|
1,086
|
77
|
99
|
Wexford
|
1,136
|
942
|
113
|
101
|
Wicklow
|
1,454
|
1,139
|
332
|
455
|
Total
|
24,616
|
2,7185
|
6,890
|
8,175
|
Table 4 provides details of the number of applications received by each of the Leinster LEOs for the Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition, the number of LEO-assisted applications to Micro Finance Ireland (MFI) and the number and value of vouchers approved by the LEOs under the Trading Online Voucher Scheme for 2014 and 2015.
Table 4: IBYE, MFI and TOVS Details 2014-2015
|
|
IBYE
|
|
MFI
|
|
TOVS
|
|
2014
|
2015
|
2014
|
2015
|
|
2014/2015
|
LEO
|
Applications Received
|
Applications Received
|
Applications Submitted
|
Applications Submitted
|
Vouchers Approved
|
Value
|
Carlow
|
27
|
40
|
6
|
10
|
47
|
€92,930
|
Dublin City
|
102
|
114
|
7
|
20
|
137
|
€311,966
|
Dún Laoghaire / Rathdown
|
30
|
52
|
12
|
14
|
121
|
€249,462
|
Dublin Fingal
|
60
|
53
|
3
|
21
|
101
|
€211,122
|
Dublin South
|
53
|
41
|
4
|
14
|
32
|
€80,000
|
Kildare
|
32
|
52
|
5
|
18
|
73
|
€142,382
|
Kilkenny
|
26
|
25
|
2
|
13
|
68
|
€148,647
|
Laois
|
24
|
73
|
3
|
7
|
25
|
€47,580
|
Longford
|
19
|
15
|
6
|
14
|
15
|
€24,668
|
Louth
|
31
|
65
|
2
|
5
|
42
|
€83,180
|
Meath
|
28
|
37
|
11
|
27
|
15
|
€30,301
|
Offaly
|
18
|
34
|
2
|
11
|
30
|
€60,981
|
Westmeath
|
27
|
42
|
7
|
12
|
38
|
€72,549
|
Wexford
|
39
|
43
|
7
|
12
|
54
|
€102,227
|
Wicklow
|
49
|
43
|
8
|
13
|
132
|
€268,442
|
Total
|
565
|
729
|
85
|
211
|
930
|
€1,926,437
|