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Financial Assistance

Overview

Financial assistance
Promoters of new and expanding enterprises in key priory sectors may be financially assisted through the County Enterprise Board.
Applicants can apply for up to 50% of all eligible business costs relating to a start-up or expansion. In general the maximum grant available is €80,000 with higher levels possible in certain cases*. Assistance may be in the form of both grant aid and repayable assistance and are related to the potential for employment creation.  
There are 3 types of financial assistance that can be applied for: –
·         Priming grants for new start-up companies and those in the first 18 months of trading;
·         Business development grants for expanding businesses, and;
·         Feasibility/Innovation grants for those investigating new innovative business projects.
 
Please note that grant assistance from the County Enterprise Board is restricted to microenterprises (i.e. having no greater than 10 employees) operating in the manufacturing, traded services and tourism sectors, and which are not likely to cause displacement of other similar businesses.
Project Selection
Priority for grant aid is given to:
·         Projects in manufacturing or internationally traded services which over time can develop into strong export entities and graduate to the Enterprise Ireland Portfolio;
·         Tourism projects aimed predominantly at overseas visitors;
·         Locally provided services promoted by the unemployed, those recently made redundant, and women re-entering the workforce, which will contribute to both national competitiveness and local development but will avoid deadweight or displacement (see below).
Any new enterprise seeking support must:
·         Be located and registered in County Cavan;
·         Must be in the commercial sphere;
·         Must demonstrate a market for the product/service;
·         Must have the capacity for growth & new job creation;
·         Must be a microenterprise ( i.e. employ no more than 10 people) 
·         Be led by a promoter(s) that can demonstrate the management and technical capability to implement the proposed project ;
·         Be led by a promoter(s) that can demonstrate that overall finance will be available to fund the project.
Restrictions
The following are ineligible for grant aid:
1) Expenditure incurred or jobs created prior to the date of grant approval (termed ‘retrospection’);
2) Proposed Projects which do not present a good case for commercial viability;
3) Projects involving primary agricultural production;
4) Businesses employing more than 10 people;
5) Retailing & Wholesaling;
6) Mainstream Professional services (e.g. accountants, Solicitors, consultants etc.) ;
7) Construction trades;
8) Projects contrary to EU or national policy;
9) Where potential for job displacement exists (i.e. where a new business could only prosper by diverting sales, output, or employment away from existing local businesses already providing essentially the same offering, thus placing existing jobs and the viability of existing businesses at risk);
10) Existing clients of Enterprise Ireland/IDA Ireland, or projects qualifying for other state agency or EU supports.
11) Mobile assets/means of transport e.g. cars, vans etc. are not grant aidable in any case;
12) Projects deemed to be capable of proceeding in any event without state support (termed 'Deadweight').
 
*Higher levels of grant assistance of over €80,000 and up to €150,000 only apply in exceptional cases where there is clear potential to trade internationally, and where among other things the scale of investment and the calibre of new jobs being created are at a high level.
Subject to the 50% limit, a maximum grant of up to €15,000 per full time job shall apply in respect of any employment support grant aided. This limit is scaled back dependant on the calibre and salary scale of the new jobs being created e.g. a maximum of €7,500 applies where salary level for respective new employees is at or close to minimum wage levels.
Grant application forms available in downloads section.
 
Click here to download leaflet ‘Financial Supports Available from County & City Enterprise Boards’