Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) can help to establish and develop new and existing enterprises provided that the enterprise is capable of becoming commercially viable. There are also other criteria to be met and these are listed in the bullet points below.
The enterprise must:
* In some cases, depending on certain criteria, businesses with 10 employees or more may be eligible, please contact your Local Enterprise Office advisor for more information on eligibility;
Within the above criteria, there are certain priorities and restrictions.
For example, priority will be given to:
With regard to restrictions, retail enterprises, personal services, professional services or construction and local building services are not eligible for grant aid.
A Business Expansion Grant is designed to assist the business in its growth phase after the initial 18 month start-up period.
Micro enterprises (Limited Companies, Designated Activity Companies, sole traders,co-operatives and partnerships) can apply for a Business Expansion Grant to help them to expand the business after the first 18 months of trading. The maximum Business Expansion Grant that can be paid is 50% of the investment or €150,000 whichever is less.
Grants between €80,000 and €150,000 are the exception. Only enterprises that clearly demonstrate a potential to graduate to Enterprise Ireland can be awarded grants of this size. In all other cases, the maximum grant is 50% of the investment or €80,000 – whichever is less.
If a business received a Priming Grant (start-up grant), it cannot apply for a Business Expansion Grant until 12 months after the date of approval of the Priming Grant. An exception to this might be made in cases of exceptional merit where less than the maximum Priming Grant was drawn down and provided the rules of ‘De Minimis aid’ are respected. De Minimis aid is small amounts of State aid granted to enterprises. (Please see below on De Minimis aid.)
A Business Expansion Grant may be paid to buy new equipment, help with direct business costs such as salary, rental costs, utilities, marketing and consultancy costs. Grant assistance is not payable to buy a building, land or mobile assets.
Grant expenditure may be considered under the following headings:
* Marketing costs will not be eligible for support for businesses employing greater than 10 employees.
If you want to apply for a Business Expansion Grant, you need to contact your local LEO. They will assess your eligibility. Applications are considered on a case-by-case basis and the level of funding will be decided after the assessment. The assessment will examine:
Any individual or business who wishes to apply must submit a completed signed Business Expansion Grant application form along with the following:
Please make sure your application form is completed in full.
Your LEO will write to acknowledge your application, and an executive from the LEO will meet with you to discuss the application. You may be asked to provide additional information.
When the LEO receives all the information they need, your application will be evaluated at the next available meeting of the LEO’s Evaluation and Approvals Committee. You will then be informed in writing of the decision.
Please note that you cannot use your grant to pay for any expenditure incurred before you make the application.
Also note that your submission of an application or the official acknowledgement of your application is not an indication that the application is eligible or will be awarded grant aid. The final decision on grant assistance is with the Evaluation and Approvals Committee of the Local Enterprise Office.
For more information on financial supports available from the LEO including information on eligibility, please see www.localenterprise.ie
If your application is approved, you can draw down your funding after you submit evidence of the expenditure detailed in your letter of offer. Also, any funding approved must be claimed within the time period on the letter of offer.
To claim any financial assistance approved, you must submit the following:
Please note that you cannot use your grant to pay for any expenditure incurred before you make the application.
Business Expansion grants are provided under the European Commission Regulation on ‘De Minimis’ aid. De Minimis aid is limited amounts of State aid
– up to €300,000 in any three-year period to any one enterprise. De Minimis aid is regarded as too small to significantly affect trade or competition in
the common market. The amounts of grants are regarded as falling outside the category of State aid which is banned by the EC Treaty and, therefore,
they can be awarded without reference to the European Commission.
However, a Member State must track De Minimis aid and make sure that combined aid payments from all sources to one enterprise
in any three-year period respect the €300,000 ceiling.
Therefore, you need to provide details of all other grant aid that has been awarded to you or your company within the past three years. Please note that
a false declaration to show a figure under the threshold of €300,000 could later mean that you would have to pay back the grant aid with interest.
Freedom of Information
The Local Enterprise Office will not release any information received as part of this application except as may be required by law, including the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and 2003. In the event of a Freedom of Information request, the client will be given reasonable advance notice in order to contest such disclosure.
Data Protection
Any personal information which you provide to the Local Enterprise Office will be obtained and processed in compliance with the Data Protection Acts 1988 & 2003. The information in this Application Form will be used by the Local Enterprise Office in the processing of your application and for ongoing administrative purposes between you and your Local Enterprise Office.
Note
Beneficiaries of grant aid should note that the acceptance of funding is an acceptance of their inclusion in the list of beneficiaries under Article 7(2) of the Implementation Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006. This list can be accessed on Border Midland & Western and Southern & Eastern Regional Assembly websites.