Irish Business Grants & Supports: What’s Available and Who Qualifies
Ireland has a genuinely generous system of grants, vouchers, loans and tax reliefs for small businesses. The problem is that it is spread across a dozen agencies, written in jargon, and full of unwritten rules. This guide maps the whole landscape in one place — who does what, what each support is worth, who qualifies, and the traps that catch people out.
What’s in this guide
- Which door do you knock on?
- The three questions that decide everything
- Starting out & testing an idea
- Growing, hiring & exporting
- Digital & AI adoption
- Innovation & R&D
- Training & people
- Tax reliefs (money back, not money out)
- Loans & access to finance
- Regional & sector-specific
- Everything at a glance
- The unwritten rules
- How to apply
- Common questions
Which Door Do You Knock On?
This is the single biggest source of confusion, and it is worth getting straight before you look at a single grant. Irish business supports are not run by one organisation. They are run by different bodies, each with its own remit, its own application system, and its own idea of who its customer is. Applying to the wrong one is the most common reason people conclude “there’s nothing out there for me.”
Local Enterprise Office (LEO)
Micro-business — usually 10 employees or fewerYour first port of call for almost every small Irish business. There are 31 LEOs, one per local authority area, and they handle start-up grants, feasibility funding, digital vouchers, mentoring and training. If you employ fewer than ten people, this is your agency.
Enterprise Ireland (EI)
10+ employees, manufacturing or internationally traded servicesThe national agency for companies that export or have the potential to. Bigger money, more demanding process. Broadly, you graduate from your LEO to EI as you grow past ten employees — though some EI schemes, like the Innovation Voucher, are open to businesses that are not EI clients at all.
Revenue
Any company, through your tax returnNot grants, but often the largest single sum available. Tax reliefs like the R&D tax credit and start-up corporation tax relief are claimed through your normal tax return — no competition, no application form, no decision panel. Chronically under-claimed by SMEs.
Dept. of Social Protection
Individuals moving from welfare into workSupports the person, not the company. If you are starting a business while on a social welfare payment, or hiring someone who has been unemployed long-term, this is where the money is — and it is often overlooked entirely.
Skillnet Ireland
Any business, for trainingHeavily subsidised training delivered through around 70 industry and regional networks. You join the relevant network and access courses at a fraction of commercial cost. Not a grant you apply for — a discount you turn up for.
Microfinance Ireland & SBCI
Businesses needing to borrowState-backed lending rather than free money. Microfinance Ireland lends to very small businesses that banks have turned down; the SBCI works through the main banks to offer longer terms and lower rates than they would otherwise give you.
Local Development Companies (LEADER)
Rural businessesEU-funded rural development money, decided locally by Local Action Groups rather than nationally. Generous rates, genuinely accessible to small rural enterprises, and widely unknown outside the areas where it is well promoted.
National Enterprise Hub
Everyone — the front doorA single government service at neh.gov.ie that pulls together 180+ supports from two dozen departments and agencies, with advisers on phone and live chat. If you read nothing else in this guide, start here — it saves hours of guessing.
The Three Questions That Decide Everything
Nearly every eligibility rule in the Irish system comes down to three things. Answer these honestly and you can rule out three-quarters of the schemes immediately, which is the fastest way to stop feeling overwhelmed.
How many people do you employ?
Ten is the dividing line that governs the whole system. Fewer than ten full-time employees makes you a micro-enterprise, which is LEO territory. Ten or more generally moves you into Enterprise Ireland’s remit. A handful of schemes stretch further — the Grow Digital Voucher now reaches businesses with up to 50 employees, and the Innovation Voucher is open to companies with up to 250 — but as a rule of thumb, the ten-employee line tells you which agency to phone.
What sector are you in?
This is the rule that surprises people most. The main LEO job-creation grants deliberately exclude retail, personal services (hairdressers, gardeners, crèches), professional services (accountants, solicitors and similar) and local construction and building services. The reasoning is “deadweight and displacement” — the State does not want to fund one local business to take trade from another. It is not a judgement on your business, and it does not lock you out of everything: digital vouchers, mentoring, training, tax reliefs and loans are still open to you. But if you run a local services business, do not build a plan around a Priming Grant.
Do you sell — or could you sell — outside Ireland?
The State funds export potential far more generously than domestic trading, because exports bring new money into the economy rather than moving it around. If you can credibly show international ambition, Enterprise Ireland’s programmes, the larger LEO grants and the export supports all open up. If you genuinely trade locally only, focus on the digital, training, tax and finance supports, where that test does not apply.
Starting Out & Testing an Idea
The supports at this stage are deliberately small. They exist to help you find out whether an idea works before anyone commits serious money to it — yours or the State’s.
Local Enterprise OfficeFeasibility Study Grant — up to €15,000
Funds the work of finding out whether your idea stands up: market research, prototyping, technical assessment, business planning. The rate is 50% of eligible costs up to €15,000 in the southern and eastern region, rising to 60% up to €15,000 in the border, midlands and western region. This is very often the sensible first grant to go for — it is easier to win than a job-creation grant and it produces the evidence base a bigger application will need later.
Priming Grant — up to €80,000
A start-up grant for micro-enterprises in their first 18 months of trading, employing up to ten people. Worth 50% of your investment up to €80,000, with an exceptional ceiling of €150,000 for businesses that can clearly show they will graduate to Enterprise Ireland or export internationally. Employment support is capped at €15,000 per full-time job created, with the full amount reserved for roles paying over €40,000. Subject to the sector exclusions above.
Mentoring, training & Start Your Own Business — free or near-free
Every LEO runs a Mentor Programme pairing you with an experienced practitioner, plus a Start Your Own Business programme and a rolling calendar of short courses. These cost little or nothing and are consistently the most under-used supports in the country. They also build the relationship with your LEO adviser that makes a later grant application go smoothly — which is worth more than most people realise.
Back to Work Enterprise Allowance — keep your payment for 2 years
If you are moving from a qualifying social welfare payment into self-employment, you keep 100% of your payment in year one and 75% in year two, including increases for a qualified adult and children. In cash terms this is frequently the most valuable support available to a new sole trader, and it is not a grant you compete for. Critical: you must have written approval before you start trading — start first and you lose it.
Short-Term Enterprise Allowance — up to 9 months
The equivalent for people on Jobseeker’s Benefit rather than long-term payments. It is paid instead of your Jobseeker’s Benefit for a maximum of nine months. Seasonal, temporary or part-time self-employment does not qualify.
New Frontiers — €17,500 tax-free allowance
Enterprise Ireland’s national programme for early-stage founders, delivered through higher education institutions. Phase 2 carries a €17,500 tax-free allowance for one founder, subject to performance, alongside structured support and workspace. Aimed at innovative ideas with export and employment potential.
Pre-Seed Start Fund & High Potential Start-Up route
For companies past the pure idea stage — an early product in the market, some customer validation. The Pre-Seed Start Fund is designed to build commercial traction ahead of a proper seed round. Beyond it sits Enterprise Ireland’s High Potential Start-Up track, for businesses that can credibly reach ten jobs and €1m in sales within three to four years, with feasibility support of up to around €30,000. Manufacturing and internationally traded services only.
You can generally only hold one of these at a time
New Frontiers, HPSU Start feasibility, the Pre-Seed Start Fund, Food Works, the LEO Feasibility Grant, the Commercialisation Fund and Údarás na Gaeltachta feasibility support are treated as mutually exclusive — you can hold one at any given time, not several. Plan the sequence deliberately rather than applying scattergun.
Growing, Hiring & Exporting
Once you are trading and past the start-up phase, the supports shift towards job creation and international sales — the two things the State most wants to buy.
Business Expansion Grant — up to €80,000
The follow-on from the Priming Grant, for established micro-enterprises in a growth phase. Worth 50% of the investment up to €80,000, again with an exceptional ceiling of €150,000 reserved for businesses demonstrating clear potential to graduate to Enterprise Ireland or export internationally. The same €15,000-per-job employment cap and the same sector exclusions apply.
JobsPlus — €7,500 or €10,000 per hire
A cash subsidy paid to you, the employer, for hiring someone who has been unemployed long-term. Paid monthly over 18 months, at €7,500 or €10,000 depending on the person’s age and how long they have been out of work, and it is not taxable for income or corporation tax. You need to offer at least 30 hours a week over a minimum of four days and be registered as a PAYE employer. There is no limit on the number of people you can hire this way. Wildly under-used by small employers.
Technical Assistance for Micro Exporters (TAME) — up to €2,500 a year
Covers 50% of eligible costs to a maximum of €2,500 in any calendar year for the practical costs of exploring an export market: trade fairs, market research, international marketing material, translation, investigating new territories. Small, but easy to win and it resets annually.
Digital & AI Adoption
This is the fastest-moving corner of the landscape and the one where the old advice is most likely to be wrong. The Trading Online Voucher — the €2,500 website grant that everyone still talks about — closed to new applications in December 2024. It has been replaced by something considerably better.
Digital for Business — free consultancy, and the gateway
A fully funded, free consultancy where a LEO-appointed digital consultant spends several days reviewing your business and writes you a practical roadmap for using digital tools to save time or money. Valuable in its own right — and, crucially, it is normally a prerequisite for the Grow Digital Voucher below, with the assessment needing to have been completed within roughly the last two years. Most people who complain they cannot access the voucher have simply missed this step.
Grow Digital Voucher — up to €5,000
The replacement for the Trading Online Voucher, and a much broader scheme. Worth 50% of eligible costs, from a minimum of €500 up to a maximum of €5,000, across a maximum of two projects up to that cumulative €5,000. It now reaches SMEs with up to 50 employees, not just the under-10s, and it covers far more than websites: CRM systems, cloud accounting, cybersecurity, and digital and AI tools that improve how the business runs. For most small Irish businesses, this is the single most practical route to funding a first AI or automation project.
Enterprise Ireland Digital Transition Fund & Digitalisation Voucher
The step up for larger companies. The Digitalisation Voucher supports external digital advisory work, with reported ceilings around €9,000 and eligible consultancy costs capped at roughly €900 per day; the broader Digital Transition Fund supports larger digitalisation projects, typically at rates around 50%. Aimed at companies with 10 or more employees in manufacturing or internationally traded services, including non-EI clients. Applicants are generally expected to complete Enterprise Ireland’s Digital Ready Scorecard self-assessment first. Budgets here run to defined periods, so check what is currently open.
Innovation & R&D
If you are developing something genuinely new — a product, a process, a piece of software — this is where the most generous money in the system sits. It is also the most under-claimed.
Innovation Voucher — €5,000
A €5,000 voucher letting you take a business problem or opportunity to a registered Knowledge Provider — a university, technological university, one of the 17 Technology Gateways, or another state research organisation. Open to limited companies registered in Ireland with fewer than 250 employees and turnover under €50m, and you do not need to be an Enterprise Ireland client. Vouchers run on a continuous call, are valid for 12 months, and you can use up to four over your participation in the scheme (three standard, one co-funded). One of the best-value supports in the country and remarkably little-known among smaller firms.
R&D Tax Credit — 35% of qualifying spend
Not a grant, and far bigger than most of them. The rate rose from 30% to 35% for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026 — so every €1,000 of qualifying R&D spend returns €350. The first-year refund threshold also increased from €75,000 to €87,500, meaning smaller claims are paid out in full in year one rather than spread over three. Critically, it is refundable in cash even if you are loss-making or pre-profit, there is no competition and no application process — you claim it through your corporation tax return. The qualifying test is real (systematic, investigative or experimental work in science or technology), so talk to an accountant who does these regularly, but far more software and product development qualifies than founders assume.
Training & People
Training support in Ireland mostly does not work as a grant you apply for. It works as a subsidy already baked into the price — you just have to know where to look.
Skillnet Ireland — subsidised training through ~70 networks
Skillnet is receiving €54.2m in Budget 2026, matched by up to €26m from the private sector, for a potential €80m of workforce development. The model is enterprise-led: businesses cluster into networks by sector or region, and members access courses, workshops and qualifications at a fraction of commercial cost. There is no grant application — you find the network that matches your sector or county, join, and book. If you are training staff on anything, check Skillnet before you pay full price.
LEO training and mentoring — low-cost, local
Alongside Skillnet, your LEO runs its own programme of short courses, clinics and one-to-one mentoring, generally at low or no cost. Between the two, most small businesses can cover their training needs for a fraction of what they would otherwise spend.
Tax Reliefs: Money Back, Not Money Out
People chasing grants routinely ignore the tax side, which is a mistake — there is no competition, no panel, no deadline scramble, and often more money. These are claimed through returns you are already filing.
Start-up corporation tax relief (Section 486C)
A reduction in corporation tax for the first five years of trading. Full relief is available where corporation tax payable does not exceed €40,000 in a year, with marginal relief between €40,000 and €60,000. The relief is linked to the employer’s PRSI you pay, because the intent is to reward job creation. It applies to companies commencing trade within the scheme’s window — currently running to the end of 2026, though these windows are routinely extended in Budgets.
SURE — Start-Up Refunds for Entrepreneurs
If you are leaving PAYE employment (or recently unemployed) to start your own company and you invest your own money in it, SURE lets you reclaim income tax you paid over the previous seven years. For someone leaving a well-paid job to go out on their own, this can be a very large cheque, and it is one of the most consistently overlooked supports in the system.
Revised Entrepreneur Relief — lifetime limit rising to €1.5m
A reduced Capital Gains Tax rate when you eventually sell qualifying business assets. The lifetime limit increases from €1m to €1.5m from 2026. Distant if you are just starting — but it is one of the reasons the company structure you choose on day one matters.
Loans & Access to Finance
State-backed lending is not free money, but it is materially cheaper, longer and less demanding on security than what you would get walking into a bank unaided.
Microfinance Ireland — up to €50,000, unsecured
Unsecured loans of up to €50,000 for start-ups and established businesses with fewer than 10 employees and turnover up to €2m. Explicitly aimed at businesses that cannot get finance from a bank. The headline rate is 6.5% APR, reduced to 5.5% APR if you apply through your Local Enterprise Office — so always go via the LEO rather than direct. You need a business plan and a demonstrably viable proposal.
Growth and Sustainability Loan Scheme (SBCI)
For larger, longer-term investment: €25,000 to €3m over seven to ten years, at rates below what participating lenders would otherwise offer, with no security required on loans up to €500,000 and a further 0.25% reduction for qualifying climate and sustainability investment. Available to SMEs and small mid-caps with turnover up to €50m. Note the scheme runs to 30 June 2026 or until fully subscribed — check whether it is still open or has a successor before planning around it.
Regional & Sector-Specific
Where you are and what you do can unlock funding that has nothing to do with the mainstream schemes — and because these pots are less well known, they are often less competitive.
LEADER — up to €200,000 for rural enterprises
EU-funded rural development money, €180m nationally across 2023–2027, with decisions made locally by 29 Local Action Groups. Rates are generous: up to 75% for capital projects to a maximum of €200,000, and up to 90% for analysis and development projects to a maximum of €30,000. “Rural” here means everywhere in Ireland except inside the city boundaries of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway — which covers a great deal more of the country than people assume. If you are outside those five cities, find your Local Development Company.
Údarás na Gaeltachta
If your business is located in a Gaeltacht area, Údarás na Gaeltachta plays the role that Enterprise Ireland and the LEO play elsewhere, with its own feasibility, employment and capital supports.
Sector agencies — Fáilte Ireland, Bord Bia, Teagasc
Tourism and hospitality businesses have Fáilte Ireland; food and drink producers have Bord Bia for marketing and market access, and Teagasc on the production side. These run their own capability programmes and funding calls entirely separately from the LEO and EI systems, so check your sector body as well as your local office.
Energy efficiency and sustainability
LEOs run an Energy Efficiency Grant for small businesses making their operations greener, and SEAI runs a broader set of business supports for energy audits and upgrades. Worth checking whenever you are replacing equipment, lighting, heating or vehicles anyway.
Everything at a Glance
The whole landscape on one screen. Use this to shortlist, then read the detail above and confirm current terms with the awarding body.
| Support | Who runs it | Worth | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feasibility Study Grant | LEO | 50–60%, max €15,000 | Testing whether an idea is viable, before you commit |
| Priming Grant | LEO | 50%, max €80,000 | Micro-businesses in their first 18 months, creating jobs |
| Business Expansion Grant | LEO | 50%, max €80,000 | Established micro-businesses in a growth phase |
| Digital for Business | LEO | Free | Everyone — and it unlocks the Grow Digital Voucher |
| Grow Digital Voucher | LEO | 50%, max €5,000 | Websites, CRM, cloud tools, cybersecurity, AI adoption |
| TAME grant | LEO | 50%, max €2,500/yr | Micro-businesses exploring an export market |
| Mentoring & training | LEO | Free / low cost | Anyone — the most under-used support in Ireland |
| Microfinance Ireland loan | MFI (via LEO) | Up to €50,000 | Under-10s who can’t get bank finance; 5.5% via LEO |
| Innovation Voucher | Enterprise Ireland | €5,000 | Any Irish Ltd under 250 staff with a problem to research |
| Digitalisation Voucher | Enterprise Ireland | Around €9,000 | 10+ employees, manufacturing / traded services |
| Digital Transition Fund | Enterprise Ireland | Typically ~50% | Larger digitalisation projects in eligible sectors |
| New Frontiers | Enterprise Ireland | €17,500 tax-free | Early-stage founders with export potential |
| Pre-Seed Start Fund / HPSU | Enterprise Ireland | Varies; ~€30,000 feasibility | Ambitious start-ups: 10 jobs & €1m sales in 3–4 yrs |
| R&D Tax Credit | Revenue | 35% of qualifying spend | Anyone doing genuine technical development work |
| Start-up CT relief (486C) | Revenue | CT relief, first 5 years | New companies with employees and taxable profit |
| SURE | Revenue | Income tax refund, 7 yrs back | Leaving PAYE to invest in your own new company |
| Back to Work Enterprise Allowance | Social Protection | 100% yr 1, 75% yr 2 | Starting up from a qualifying welfare payment |
| JobsPlus | Social Protection | €7,500–€10,000 per hire | Any PAYE employer hiring long-term unemployed |
| Skillnet Ireland | Skillnet | Heavily subsidised | Any business training its team |
| Growth & Sustainability Loan | SBCI via banks | €25,000–€3m, 7–10 yrs | Longer-term strategic investment |
| LEADER | Local Action Groups | Up to 75%, max €200,000 | Rural businesses outside the five main cities |
The Unwritten Rules
This is the section that saves people money. None of these rules are hidden exactly — but they are buried in terms and conditions, and breaking one of them is the usual reason a promising application fails or a business ends up out of pocket.
1. Never start before you have written approval
This is the big one. Grants fund future costs, not costs you have already incurred. If you sign the contract, pay the deposit or start the work before your application is approved in writing, that spend is almost always ineligible — even if the project would have qualified perfectly. The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance is explicit about this: start trading before approval and you lose the entitlement outright. Get the paperwork first, every time.
2. You pay first and claim it back
Almost all of these are reimbursement schemes. You spend the full amount, prove you spent it with invoices and proof of payment, and the grant is paid to you afterwards — often months later. A €5,000 voucher does not mean someone hands you €5,000 up front; it means you need €10,000 of cash flow to end up €5,000 better off. Plan for that gap.
3. “50% funded” means you fund the other 50%
Match funding is not optional and cannot usually be met with another grant or with your own unpaid time. Assessors will want to see that you can genuinely afford your share, so a realistic, funded plan beats an ambitious one you cannot finance.
4. Sector exclusions are real and they are not personal
Retail, personal services, professional services and local construction are excluded from the main LEO job-creation grants on displacement and deadweight grounds — the State will not fund you to win trade from the business down the road. Plenty of viable, valuable businesses fall into these categories. You are not locked out of the system: digital vouchers, mentoring, training, tax reliefs, JobsPlus and loans remain fully open. Just do not build a funding plan around a grant you cannot get.
5. There is a ceiling on total State aid: €300,000
Most of these supports are “de minimis” State aid, and there is an EU cap of €300,000 over a rolling three-year period per undertaking — and it applies to your whole group of companies collectively, not per company. You will be asked to declare aid already received. From 1 January 2026 a mandatory EU-wide de minimis register applies, with Irish public bodies recording all exchequer-funded supports on it, so keep your own running total accurate.
6. Some supports are mutually exclusive
You generally cannot hold New Frontiers, HPSU feasibility, the Pre-Seed Start Fund, Food Works, a LEO Feasibility Grant, the Commercialisation Fund and Údarás feasibility support at the same time — it is one at a time. Sequence them deliberately.
7. Do the free things first — they are often gateways
Digital for Business is normally required before the Grow Digital Voucher. The Digital Ready Scorecard is expected before Enterprise Ireland’s digital supports. Mentoring and Start Your Own Business build the relationship with the adviser who will later assess your application. The free supports are not a consolation prize; they are the on-ramp.
8. Go through the LEO, not around it
A Microfinance Ireland loan costs 5.5% APR through your LEO versus 6.5% applying directly. Same lender, same loan, a full percentage point cheaper for making one phone call first. That pattern — better terms for going through the proper channel — repeats across the system.
9. Grants have tax and accounting consequences
Grant income is not simply free of consequence: how it is treated in your accounts and for tax depends on the type of grant and what it funds. Capital grants and revenue grants are handled differently. Mention every grant to your accountant before year end rather than after.
10. Budgets run out, and schemes close
Several of these have fixed pots or end dates — the Growth and Sustainability Loan Scheme runs to 30 June 2026 or until fully subscribed, and the Trading Online Voucher closed for good in December 2024 while half the internet still recommends it. Competitive calls have deadlines; rolling schemes can pause when money runs out. Always check what is open today.
How to Apply
The process is far less intimidating than the paperwork suggests, provided you do it in the right order. This sequence works for almost every scheme on this page.
Start at the National Enterprise Hub
Go to neh.gov.ie and use the search, or phone or live-chat an adviser. It covers 180+ supports across two dozen departments and agencies, and it is free. Twenty minutes here beats a week of Googling and will surface things you did not know existed.
Then talk to a human at your Local Enterprise Office
Every LEO has business advisers whose job is this conversation. Book a meeting, describe the business honestly, and ask directly which supports you are eligible for. They will tell you what will and will not fly before you spend a day on a form — and they will often point out something you had not considered. This single step is the highest-return thing in the whole guide.
Take the free supports on offer
Mentoring, Digital for Business, the Digital Ready Scorecard, Start Your Own Business. They cost nothing, they are frequently prerequisites for the money, and completing them signals that you are serious.
Get your quotes and your paperwork together
Most schemes require written quotes from suppliers — often two or three for larger spends — plus tax clearance, up-to-date accounts or projections, and evidence the business is trading commercially. Assemble this before you start the form and the application takes an afternoon rather than a fortnight.
Write the application in the assessor’s language
Assessors are looking for specific things: jobs created, export potential, innovation, commercial viability, and no displacement of existing local business. Do not just describe what you want to buy — state the outcome in those terms. “This automation frees 15 hours a week, letting us take on two new export clients and hire an additional person in year two” is an application. “We need a new system” is not.
Wait for written approval — then spend
Not before. Keep every invoice, every receipt and proof of payment, deliver what you said you would, and submit your claim with the evidence attached. Do what you promised in the application and the claim is straightforward.
Common Questions
Do I have to be a new business to get a grant?
No — and this is a common misconception. Only a handful of schemes are restricted to start-ups: the Priming Grant is limited to the first 18 months of trading, and the welfare-based allowances are for people entering self-employment. Everything else is open to established businesses, and several supports are specifically designed for companies that are already trading and want to grow, digitalise, export, hire or innovate. If anything, a trading business with real numbers has an easier case to make than an idea on paper.
Do I need to be a limited company, or can a sole trader apply?
It depends on the scheme. Sole traders can access LEO mentoring and training, the Grow Digital Voucher, Microfinance Ireland loans and the welfare-based enterprise allowances. But several supports require a limited company registered in Ireland — the Innovation Voucher does, and the corporation tax reliefs and R&D tax credit only make sense within a company structure. If you are weighing up incorporating, the funding you unlock is one factor worth putting on the list alongside tax and liability.
Can I apply for more than one grant?
Yes, and most businesses that use the system well end up combining several — a free consultancy, a digital voucher, a training subsidy and a tax credit, for example. The limits are that you cannot fund the same cost twice from two sources, some early-stage supports are explicitly mutually exclusive, and everything counts towards the €300,000 de minimis State aid ceiling over three years.
My business is a local service — is there really anything for me?
Yes, just not the job-creation grants. Retail, personal services, professional services and local construction are excluded from LEO Priming and Business Expansion grants on displacement grounds. But the Grow Digital Voucher, Digital for Business, mentoring and training, Skillnet, JobsPlus, Microfinance Ireland, the tax reliefs and (if you are rural) LEADER are all still available. That is a substantial amount of support — it is just concentrated in capability, digital and people rather than capital.
Can grants pay for AI or automation work?
Increasingly, yes — this is one of the clearest shifts in the landscape. The Grow Digital Voucher explicitly covers digital tools including AI-enabled software, CRM, cloud systems and cybersecurity, at 50% up to €5,000, and Digital for Business will fund a consultant to map out what you should do first, for free. Larger companies have Enterprise Ireland’s Digitalisation Voucher and Digital Transition Fund. And if you are building something genuinely novel rather than adopting off-the-shelf tools, the R&D tax credit at 35% may be the bigger prize.
How long does it take?
It varies enormously. Vouchers and smaller LEO supports can move in a few weeks. Larger grants that go before an evaluation committee work to a meeting schedule, so timing your application relative to that cycle matters. Payment then comes after you have spent and claimed, which adds months. The honest planning assumption is that grant money arrives considerably later than you would like — never build a cash flow that depends on it landing quickly.
Is it worth paying a consultant to write the application?
For most small grants, no — your LEO adviser will help you for free, and the forms are manageable. For large, competitive or complex applications, specialist help can pay for itself. Be wary of anyone charging significant fees up front for access to schemes you could apply to yourself in an afternoon, and be especially wary of “guaranteed approval” claims. No one can guarantee that.
Explore More
Tenzing Digital is an AI & automation studio working with Irish SMEs — practical, human-in-the-loop, GDPR-safe, with data kept in the EU. If a digital or AI project is what you are considering funding, here is where to look next.
Enterprise Ireland Grants for AI
A closer look at the Enterprise Ireland side specifically — which schemes fund AI advisory work, and how the application process runs.
AI Audit
A clear map of where AI could genuinely save you time and money, with a written plan — exactly the kind of scoping work digital vouchers are designed to fund.
The EU AI Act in Ireland
The other half of the picture: the rules that apply once you start using AI in your business, without the legal jargon.
Thinking About a Digital or AI Project?
Half the cost may already be fundable — most Irish SMEs simply have not done the free consultancy that unlocks it. A quick, no-obligation call is the fastest way to work out what is worth doing and what could be funded. This page is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice.