Local Enterprise Offices help create over 18,000 jobs in five years
Local Enterprise Offices have supported the creation of 18,640 jobs in their first five years.
The figures were announced by Ministers Heather Humphreys and Pat Breen at an event to celebrate five years of the offices.
The 31 Local Enterprise Offices nationwide have contributed funding to over 5,000 business and entrepreneurial projects and distributed €81.5m worth of direct financial assistance.
144,830 entrepreneurs and business people have been trained in a range of skills, including 17,500 who have taken a Start Your Own Business course, and 40,577 people have received mentoring support.
Some of the successful companies who have been supported by their Local Enterprise Office include Simtech Aviation (Fingal), Irish Fairy Door Company (South Dublin), Beats Medical (Dun-Laoghaire Rathdown), Blacks of Kinsale (Cork North & West), Pip & Pear (Waterford), GloFox (Dun-Laoghaire Rathdown), Neurant Medical (Galway), Keoghs Crisps (Fingal), and Strong Roots (Dublin City).
"Since their inception in 2014, the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) have played a hugely significant role in generating indigenous employment across the country," said Minister for Business Heather Humphreys.
"There are now over 36,000 people employed by LEO-supported companies, small Irish businesses that are creating jobs in their own towns and villages.
"Supporting regional enterprise is a big priority of mine as Minister and it’s for this reason that I allocated an additional €5 million to the LEOs in Budget 2019."
