Enterprise Support Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-22
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Niamh Smyth (FF), Cavan-Monaghan

I concur with those sentiments. From dealing with businesses, I know that the jump when you go from an LEO to Enterprise Ireland can be a challenge because a business may not meet the criteria. We are looking at all of that within the upcoming budget to see what we can do to make sure our agencies do not allow anyone to fall through the cracks as a result of the criteria businesses must meet when moving from the local enterprise office to Enterprise Ireland.
Enterprise Ireland market advisers provide client companies with access to local market expertise, market intelligence and business connections to support export growth and international expansion. Through this network, companies can receive practical advice on market entry strategies and introductions to potential customers, partners and other key stakeholders in overseas markets. In a similar way, our LEOs, which operate in each of the 31 local authority areas, provide advice, mentoring and financial supports to early-stage exporters through initiatives such as the export business advisers network and the market explorer grant.
The export business advisers assist companies in researching, planning and commencing exports while the market explorer grant supports businesses to investigate and enter new international markets by covering up to 50% of the eligible costs, to a maximum of €10,000 over an 18-month period.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-22