221. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment what steps are being taken to ensure that social enterprises have equal and consistent access to Local Enterprise Office grants, mentoring and business development supports in every local authority area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66777/26]

Policy responsibility for Social Enterprises lies with the Department of Rural Community Development and the Gaeltacht. The Trading for Impact: National Social Enterprise Policy 2024 -2027 was launched by the Minister for Rural and Community Development on July 24, 2024. Actions 15 and 16 of the Policy refer to providing a consistent service to social enterprises and providing greater access to supports through Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs).

The Local Enterprise Offices play an extremely important role at local level, providing their services to small businesses and promoting entrepreneurship across all 31 Local Authority areas.

Enterprise Ireland LEO Operations & Client Excellence unit has been actively working for a number of years to improve awareness, understanding and consistency in how social enterprises are supported across the network. This has included dedicated training and awareness sessions for LEO staff, developed in collaboration with representatives of the social enterprise sector, social enterprise practitioners and enterprise consultants.

As with all small businesses, Social Enterprises are eligible for LEO supports such as training and mentoring supports, Lean for Micro, and Green for Business. These supports are open to all micro and small enterprises (1–50 employees) that meet the programme criteria, with eligibility is based on enterprise activity rather than company structure

Social Enterprises are also potentially eligible for the LEOs’ range of competitiveness and productivity supports, as well as core measure 1 supports, although these are primarily focused on manufacturing and internationally traded services . Here Social Enterprises are eligible for LEO assistance provided they operate on a commercial basis and meet the eligibility criteria of the scheme for which they wish to apply and may be eligible for supports such as the Grow Digital Voucher, the Energy Efficiency Grant, and Green for Business.

My Department, through both the LEO Policy Statement 2024-2030 and Enterprise Ireland’s strategy ‘Delivering for Ireland, Leading Globally’, recognise that social enterprises are a valuable part of our economy. The LEO Policy Statement emphasises a consistency of approach across the LEO network and a clear intention to show that LEO’s are there to provide advice and guidance on what supports are available to small businesses across all sectors.