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The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD, today (Wednesday 12 August) launched a new €12 million Enterprise Centre Fund to help enterprise centres impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund is administered by Enterprise Ireland.
Enterprise centres, which are in every region of the country, have a key role to play in the economic recovery. They provide space, training, advice and administer grants to hundreds of companies and entrepreneurs throughout Ireland.
Speaking today at the Guinness Enterprise Centre in Dublin 8, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said:
"We are determined to do everything we can to assist businesses during this difficult time. Enterprise centres support over 2,000 companies and thousands of jobs in every region in the country. They provide space, training, finance and advice to entrepreneurs and their services will be especially important over the coming months. This funding will help them put in place a recovery plan which will ensure they can continue to deliver for all parts of Ireland. Applications are open from today and I encourage all centres who have been impacted to apply."
The Enterprise Centre Fund is part of the government’s July Stimulus package, a €7.4 billion package of measures designed to stimulate a jobs-led recovery and build economic confidence while continuing to manage the impact of COVID-19.
The Fund is open to both not-for-profit and for-profit enterprise centres which have seen their income significantly impacted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grant funding of between €10,000 and €150,000 is available. The grants will help them implement a recovery plan to reboot their centres over the next six to twelve months.
Julie Sinnamon, CEO of Enterprise Ireland said:
"Enterprise Centres provide a critical regional infrastructure for entrepreneurs, start-up companies and small enterprise. The €12 million Enterprise Centre Fund, available from today through Enterprise Ireland, provides financial support to help eligible Enterprise Centres to continue to provide important services to start-ups in towns and villages across Ireland. These Enterprise Centres have a key role in supporting regional enterprise and contributing to economic recovery, post COVID-19."
Further information on how to apply is available at enterprise-ireland.com/enterprisecentrescheme and the closing date for applications is noon on Wednesday, 30 September 2020.
ENDS
The €12 million in funding will be provided by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and it will be administered by Enterprise Ireland.
Eligible enterprise centres can apply for funding of a minimum of €10,000 and up to a maximum of €150,000. Funding will be administered in the form of grant aid of up to 80 per cent of eligible costs detailed in the Recovery Plan submitted by each applicant.
Applicants for funding will need to demonstrate the ability to finance the balance of funding required to implement the Recovery Plan. The required balanced of funding can take the form of revenue generated through the centres core activities over the duration of the plan.
Eligible applicants for funding under this fund are enterprise centres that: