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Minister announces €28m Economic Stimulus Package for the Border Region

Written by Robert McHugh, on 3rd Jan 2020. Posted in Agriculture

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The Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys has today announced details of a special €28 million economic stimulus package for the Border region. 

The package, which applies to counties Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan and Louth, is designed to drive economic activity in the region and ensure that businesses have additional support in mitigating the impact of Brexit.

The Border Economic Stimulus Package includes:
• €3 million for the six Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) in the border counties for capability development programmes for micro and small firms with ambition.
• An €8.5 million Brexit Transformation Fund to enable firms to transform their businesses and diversify markets.
• €1.5 million for Industry Fellowships targeted at businesses located in Border counties, administered by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).
• A €15 million competitive Border Enterprise Development Fund, administered by Enterprise Ireland (EI).
• To help stakeholders investigate the viability of potential projects and prepare final submissions for consideration for the €15m Border Enterprise Development Fund, Competitive Feasibility Funding is also available. This will be a grant of €15,000 or 50% of eligible costs, whichever is lesser, available to eligible applicants.

The Minister also announced that as part of the next phase of the IDA's Regional Property Programme, three new Advanced Technology Buildings will be built in Dundalk, Monaghan and Sligo in 2020. These buildings will be critical as the IDA seek to attract more Foreign Direct Investment to the Border region.

Announcing details of the stimulus package, Minister Humphreys said, "This is a golden opportunity for businesses in the border region and I want to ensure that they get the maximum benefit out of this funding. I would therefore encourage companies to attend these workshops, details of which will be announced shortly, so that they can hear directly from our enterprise agencies about what’s involved. I want to see strong, innovative, industry-led proposals coming forward which will make a real and lasting difference to the region."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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