It was announced today that the Government will launch a new €10million initiative to support more start-up businesses in every county of the country.
The new initiative forms part of the Government’s €250million Regional Action Plan for Jobs. Action Plans are currently being developed for all 8 regions of the country, coordinated by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.
The initiative comprises two funds, which go live today, with closing date of 10th July 2015. The first is a €5million LEO fund, covering the period 2015-2017, open to groups of Local Enterprise Offices who come together to bid for funding for projects to support job-creation initiatives in their areas. The funding will be awarded on a competitive basis to the projects with the greatest capacity to create jobs.
The second is a €5million Community Enterprise Initiatives fund, open to groups and organisations in every county of the country who come together with ideas for projects to create jobs. The fund will be awarded on a competitive basis to the projects with the greatest capacity to create jobs. Examples of projects which might succeed could include – hiring skilled people who could assist with mentoring businesses, investing in hubs and co-working space where businesses could work in their early days
The announcement was made today at Enterprise House, Carlow, as the Carlow Community Enterprise Centre celebrated its tenth birthday with Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD, Minister for Jobs, Richard Bruton TD, and Minister of State for Business and Employment, Ged Nash TD.
The Taoiseach said, "The priority of this Government is to spread economic recovery to all parts of Ireland. Supporting local businesses to create jobs is essential to get Ireland working again. To support local economies, we announced in February a package of €250m to build on the success of IDA and Enterprise Ireland in all of the regions.
Today, we are unveiling the first part of that funding - €5m for collaboration by the 31 LEOs on regional-specific initiatives and €5m, available through Enterprise Ireland, for new and existing business or community groups to collaborate on projects which will strengthen the job creation potential of their region."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
