Small Business Grants Ireland 2026: LEO and EI Funding

Before you read: Grantsights' grant search covers United States money only, so nothing on this page sells you an Irish product. The figures come from the agencies' own pages and reports, with links. If an Irish version would help your business, let us know you're in Ireland.

Small Business Grants in Ireland at a Glance (October 2026)

Nine state supports cover most small businesses, and only 3 of them are open to every sector. The table shows the maximum, who can apply and the condition people most often miss.

Sources: LEO, Enterprise Ireland and Microfinance Ireland scheme pages, read 30 October 2026.

Two free LEO consultancy programmes sit in front of the digital and energy grants. Digital for Business gives you an independent digital consultant, and Green for Business gives you up to two days with a sustainability consultant, which needs turnover above €30,000. Neither costs anything, and the reports they produce are what unlock the Grow Digital Voucher and the Energy Efficiency Grant.

Who Qualifies: The Sector Rule That Rules Most Businesses Out

The LEO's own eligibility page names 4 types of business that its main grants won't fund: domestically focused retail, personal services, professional services and construction. Its examples are hairdressers, gardeners, crèches, accountants, solicitors and local building services. The reason it gives is deadweight (the project would have gone ahead anyway) and displacement (taking customers from other local firms).

Priority goes to manufacturing and internationally traded services that could grow into exporters and move up to Enterprise Ireland. In practice that means a food producer, a craft maker selling abroad, a software company or a firm selling a service to overseas clients can apply for a Feasibility, Priming or Business Expansion Grant. A local café, a plumber or a high street shop can't.

Other exclusions apply to every LEO grant Grantsights checked:

• Existing Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland or Údarás na Gaeltachta clients.
• Coal and steel, and (for the digital, green and energy supports) primary farming, fishing and aquaculture.
• Gambling, adult entertainment, tobacco and cannabis products that aren't authorised medicines.
• Businesses in a group: the EU linked-company rule adds a partner's figures if either owns 25% to 50% of the other, and all of them above 50%. A small company owned by a larger one may not count as small at all.

The Grow Digital Voucher and Energy Efficiency Grant are wider. Most commercial businesses with 1 to 50 paid employees can apply (primary farming, fishing and the other excluded activities aside), including sole traders and partnerships, and charities and sports bodies that trade. You'll need tax clearance from Revenue (opens in a new tab): according to Revenue, a Tax Clearance Certificate confirms your tax affairs are in order and can still be issued where arrears are covered by an instalment arrangement.

Grantsights Analysis of the LEO Impact Report 2025

Local Enterprise Offices approved €22,361,390 in grant aid for 1,067 applications from 989 clients in 2025, according to the LEO Impact Report 2025. That's an average of about €20,957 per approved project. Half the money went to Business Expansion Grants.

Grantsights analysis of the LEO Impact Report 2025, page 5. Averages and shares are Grantsights calculations; the report doesn't publish medians or individual awards.

The averages say something the scheme pages don't. The typical Priming Grant (€29,254) and Business Expansion Grant (€32,342) are well under half the normal €80,000 ceiling, so plan your project around €20,000 to €40,000 of grant, not the headline figure.

The same report counts supports that aren't in the grant total. In 2025, 1,134 clients were approved for Digital for Business, 318 for Grow Digital Vouchers, 1,094 for Green for Business and 715 for Energy Efficiency Grants. Another 620 Trading Online Voucher applications made before that scheme closed were approved during 2025.

Jobs by county. According to the LEO Impact Report 2025 data, 7,148 LEO-funded businesses employed 40,285 people at the end of 2025. They created 7,261 jobs and lost 4,782, a net gain of 2,479, and 82% of the new jobs were outside Dublin. The four Dublin LEOs had 1,242 of the 7,148 client companies (17%).

LEO Impact Report 2025, page 4 (LEO Annual Employment Survey). Six largest net gains plus the smallest.

Enterprise Ireland Funding for Start-Ups

Enterprise Ireland invested €32.9 million in 198 start-ups in 2025, according to its 7 May 2026 announcement (opens in a new tab): €23 million in equity for 90 High Potential Start-Ups (HPSUs) and €9.55 million in pre-seed funding. Enterprise Ireland's start-up supports are for manufacturing and internationally traded services businesses with export plans, so it's the next step after a LEO, not an alternative for local trade.

Pre-Seed Start Fund. It invests €50,000 or €100,000 through a convertible loan note, paid in €50,000 tranches. Each tranche needs at least €5,000 of new equity or quasi-equity raised after you apply; a bank loan doesn't count. To qualify, the business must be in manufacturing or internationally traded services, less than 4 years old, with no more than €150,000 of equity raised and revenue no higher than €150,000 in any year, and able to reach 10 jobs and €1 million in sales within 3 years. The fund is continuously open, allows up to 3 applications in 12 months, and includes 10 mentoring sessions.

HPSU supports. Once Enterprise Ireland accepts you as an HPSU client, the HPSU Feasibility Study Grant pays 70% of eligible costs up to €30,000 to prepare an investor-ready plan. Its equity fund for HPSUs only co-invests: you must raise outside investment first. Its start-up page describes investment of up to €800,000, while the fund's own page says up to €1.2 million; check with the HPSU team which applies to you.

New Frontiers. This programme runs at 18 technological university and institute locations. Phase 2 is six months full time with a tax-free stipend of €15,000 for eligible participants, and Enterprise Ireland values the full package at over €40,000 with no equity taken.

Regional spread. Grantsights analysis of the Start-Up Day 2026 directory found that 108 of the 198 start-ups supported in 2025 (55%) were in Dublin, against 27 in the South and South East, 25 in the Midlands and Mid-East, 14 in the West, 12 in the North East and North West and 12 in the Mid-West. That's the opposite of the LEO pattern, where most new jobs were outside Dublin.

Named examples from the directory. Each company entry lists its own achievements. For example, Digitax secured €100,000 from the Pre-Seed Start Fund for its AI tax tool for sole traders, according to its entry; Podsy and PMPA each report €100,000 from the same fund; Grá Chocolates reports HPSU status and a €100,000 Pre-Seed investment to modernise its production facility; and Weighless Wonders lists a €48,000 Priming Grant, a €50,000 pre-seed investment and a New Frontiers place.

What the LEO and Enterprise Ireland Websites Don't Tell You

The scheme pages set out the rules one at a time. These are the common mistakes and red flags that only show up when you read them side by side.

1. Spending before you apply kills the grant. Every LEO grant page Grantsights checked says the application must go in before any project expenditure or activity starts. Ordering equipment, signing a contract or paying a deposit first can get the project ruled ineligible as deadweight. This is the most avoidable way to lose funding.

2. The headline maximum is rarely what you get. The €150,000 Priming and Business Expansion ceiling is reserved for projects that "clearly demonstrate a potential to graduate to Enterprise Ireland", and the normal cap is €80,000. The 2025 averages were €29,254 and €32,342. Grants of €50,000 or more, or €100,000 over three years, also need Enterprise Ireland approval, which adds time.

3. Salary support is capped per job. Within the 50% limit, Priming and Business Expansion Grants pay no more than €15,000 per full-time job created. A plan built around hiring 2 people can't claim more than €30,000 of employment support.

4. Priming and expansion can't overlap. A business that got a Priming Grant has to wait 12 months after approval or drawdown, whichever is later, before applying for a Business Expansion Grant, except in cases of exceptional merit.

5. The digital and energy grants have a queue in front of them. You can't apply for a Grow Digital Voucher without a Digital for Business report from the previous two years, or for an Energy Efficiency Grant without a Green for Business, GreenStart or SEAI energy audit report. Under the Energy Efficiency Grant, replacement equipment only qualifies if the old kit is more than 5 years old, and businesses run solely from a home office are excluded.

6. Pre-seed money isn't free money. The Pre-Seed Start Fund is a convertible loan note, so Enterprise Ireland can end up with equity. Founders who've already raised more than €150,000 of equity or had revenue above €150,000 are ruled out. So is a company that already had a €100,000 pre-seed investment, or both pre-seed and Competitive Start Fund money; one earlier €50,000 investment limits you to €50,000. You also can't be receiving other state funding when you accept the offer.

7. Older schemes keep showing up in search results. The Trading Online Voucher closed on 13 December 2024 and the Technical Assistance for Micro Exporters Grant was replaced by the Market Explorer Grant in January 2025, according to the LEO Impact Report 2025. Enterprise Ireland's site no longer has a Competitive Start Fund page. If you've seen "Green for Micro" in older articles, the current LEO sustainability pages list Green for Business, GreenStart and the Energy Efficiency Grant instead.

8. Nobody publishes a success rate for LEO grants. The LEO report counts approvals, not applications. The one approval rate it does give is for loans: LEOs helped with 608 Microfinance Ireland applications in 2025 and 281 were approved (46%).

Loans and Other Money When You Don't Fit a Grant

Microfinance Ireland lends €2,000 to €50,000 to businesses that find it difficult to get credit elsewhere. According to its own pages, the business must be located and registered in the Republic, have fewer than 10 full-time employees and turnover or a balance sheet under €2 million, and create or keep at least 1 full-time job. Its standard APR is 6.5%, or 5.5% if you apply through your LEO. Unlike the LEO grants, its excluded sectors list (opens in a new tab) doesn't rule out retail or local services as a group. It does rule out property and construction development, and its loans can't be used to repay existing bank debt or old Revenue debt, or be made to companies limited by guarantee.

Budget 2027 adds two things worth watching. According to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment's Budget 2027 announcement (opens in a new tab), LEOs get an extra €4.5 million, including money for small business energy efficiency upgrades, and €20 million goes to launch a €500 million Growth and Sustainability Loan Scheme offering unsecured loans of up to €500,000. The release doesn't give a launch date for the loan scheme, so don't plan around it yet.

A few other routes fit specific situations:

• Research partners: the Innovation Voucher gives a limited company €10,000 of time with a college or public research body, and a company can hold up to 4 vouchers (3 standard and 1 co-funded).
• Graduate hires: GradStart pays the lesser of €30,000 (€15,000 a year) or 50% of a graduate's salary on a 2-year contract, for manufacturing or traded services companies with at least 5 full-time staff.
• Building energy: the LEO Energy Efficiency Grant page signposts SEAI for grants on the building itself. Our SEAI grants guide and solar panel grant Ireland guide cover SEAI's home schemes in detail; check SEAI's own business pages for commercial buildings.
• Craft and design firms: In 2025, LEOs supported more than 100 design and craft companies to exhibit at Showcase, the RDS trade fair. Creative practitioners should also read our Arts Council Ireland funding guide.
• Northern Ireland: LEOs and Microfinance Ireland only cover the Republic. Businesses north of the border should read our start-up grants UK guide and Innovate UK grants guide.

How to Apply and Realistic Timelines

Applying for a LEO grant takes 4 steps, and all of them go through the LEO for the county where your business is registered and operates.

1. Talk to your LEO first. Every scheme page asks you to discuss the project with your Local Enterprise Office before applying. There are 31 offices; find yours on localenterprise.ie (opens in a new tab).
2. Get your paperwork ready. Expect to need a business plan, financial statements showing you're solvent, quotes for each cost, and a Tax Reference Number and Tax Clearance Access Number so the LEO can check your tax clearance status online (opens in a new tab).
3. Submit before you spend. Send the application before ordering, buying or contracting for anything in the project.
4. Wait for the evaluation committee. LEO grants are decided by committee, and the scheme pages don't publish a decision time; ask your office when its next meeting is. Grants of €50,000 or more also need Enterprise Ireland approval.

For Enterprise Ireland's Pre-Seed Start Fund, first-time applicants register on its online application system. Free monthly workshops run by the Irish Business Innovation Centres are listed for 19 November and 9 December 2026. Successful applicants get an offer valid for 8 weeks and have up to 8 weeks from offer to the first tranche.

Realistic timing for a typical founder looks like this: a Feasibility Study Grant while you test the idea, a Priming Grant within the first 18 months of trading, a Business Expansion Grant at least 12 months after that, and Enterprise Ireland once you have international sales in sight. A business that won't sell outside Ireland should focus on Microfinance Ireland, the Grow Digital Voucher and the Energy Efficiency Grant.

Sources Checked

All pages read and files downloaded on 30 October 2026.

• Local Enterprise Office: Financial Supports (opens in a new tab), Eligibility Criteria (opens in a new tab), Priming Grant (opens in a new tab), Business Expansion Grant (opens in a new tab), Feasibility Grant (opens in a new tab), Market Explorer Grant (opens in a new tab), GradStart (opens in a new tab), Grow Digital Voucher (opens in a new tab), Digital for Business (opens in a new tab), Green for Business (opens in a new tab), Energy Efficiency Grant (opens in a new tab)
• LEO Impact Report 2025 (opens in a new tab)
• Enterprise Ireland: Start-ups (opens in a new tab), Pre-Seed Start Fund (opens in a new tab), HPSU Feasibility Study Grant (opens in a new tab), Innovation Voucher (opens in a new tab), LeanStart (opens in a new tab), New Frontiers (opens in a new tab), Over €32 million invested in Irish startups in 2025 (opens in a new tab) and the Start-Up Day 2026 directory (opens in a new tab)
• Microfinance Ireland: Eligibility (opens in a new tab) and Local Enterprise Office (opens in a new tab)
• Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment: Budget 2027 delivers €1.3 billion for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (opens in a new tab) (7 October 2026) and the Grow Digital Voucher announcement (opens in a new tab) (19 September 2024)
• Revenue, Tax clearance (opens in a new tab)