Following the dissolution of the County and City Enterprise Boards in 2014, the 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) were established to promote entrepreneurship and to act as a “first-stop-shop” for providing advice and guidance and financial assistance to those wishing to start or grow their own business. Over the eight years since their establishment the LEOs have provided assistance to indigenous enterprises under their Measure 1 (grant aid schemes) and Measure 2 (Training, Development and Mentoring) supports.
Please find below the capital outturn for the LEOs as a whole for each of the years from 2014, when the LEOs were first established, to 2021 and the estimated year to date figure for 2022.
Year
|
Capital Outturn €
|
2014
|
17,020,947
|
2015
|
18,497,988
|
2016
|
19,496,439
|
2017
|
22,432,864
|
2018
|
22,966,780
|
2019
|
27,483,889
|
2020
|
68,810,560
|
2021
|
45,660,692
|
2022 to date (estimated)
|
3,350,863
|
I am pleased to say that this department’s investment in the LEOs has resulted in eight years of consecutive employment growth. The Local Enterprise Offices now support over 7,100 companies financially within their portfolio, with almost 36,000 associated jobs and a net gain of 3,000 jobs in 2021.