Town Mayor, Cllr. Aengus O’Rourke, has formally welcomed the ‘Client Stimulus Scheme’, which he described as a “positive boost” for small businesses within the local community.
The scheme is funded through the July stimulus package announced by the Government and its purpose is to sustain eligible businesses through the provision of a cash boost to support operational costs and enhanced engagement with the Local Enterprise Office.
“Under the July stimulus, a €10m fund is ring-fenced for Local Enterprise Office clients . This fund is available to enable these businesses to move into what the Government is calling a ‘recovery phase’.
“The July Stimulus plan was a brave and ambitious undertaking by Government to quickly and comprehensively support businesses in a way that kept them viable, gave them a lifeline and ensured that as an economy we did our best to save as many businesses as possible, despite the awful effects of the pandemic on our country as a whole.
“Now, the announcement of a ‘Client Stimulus Scheme’ is a further positive news for the small business community in particular with relevant funding available through an immediate cash contribution to support liquidity and to be used to cover ongoing operational costs, such as utilities, insurance, refurbishment or for measures to ensure employee and customer safety.
“The funding is conditional upon eligible businesses agreeing to complete a project focused on driving key themes such as competitiveness, both operationally and green, capability across leadership, innovation, strategic finance and new market development which will support the mitigation of the effects of Covid-19 and indeed the Brexit situation.
“The intention is that the funding and associated projects will provide businesses with a platform from which they can sustain and grow thereby contributing to the recovery of the Irish economy.
“The Local Enterprise Office Client Stimulus Scheme will stimulate Local Enterprise Office clients with funding equal to their refundable aid repayment amount in the period 2016-2019.
“Clients that paid less than €1,000 will be paid a minimum of €1,000. The maximum payment is capped at €20,000 for those clients who paid that amount or greater.
“This is a very clever scheme because the qualifying businesses are well known to the LEO office. LEO have a good understanding of their business plans and objectives and each of the businesses have availed of a range of structured LEO supports in the past,” Cllr O’Rourke asserted.
