Economy

Local Enterprise Offices supporting 7,500 companies, says Tánaiste

Net job loss of 1,494 among LEO client companies in 2020

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar: LEOs managed to ‘pivot and adapt quickly’ during crisis. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Wed Apr 21 2021 - 04:38

Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are now supporting more than 7,500 companies employing over 35,000 people, according to figures announced by Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar.

The network of offices helped support the creation of 5,585 new jobs in 2020, although there was a net job loss of 1,494 among the LEO portfolio of client companies amid severe trading difficulties posed by the pandemic.

Overall, the LEOs are supporting 35,236 jobs across 7,529 companies, while last year saw 133 companies transition to Enterprise Ireland as they scaled up and looked to export markets.

“In the face of unprecedented challenges, our LEOs managed to pivot and adapt quickly, to help their network of local businesses endure the crisis of the pandemic,” Mr Varadkar said.

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“The coming months will be similarly busy as we reopen our economy and help businesses get back on their feet.”

In 2020, more than €22 million was approved by LEOs to clients for projects across the year to help improve their businesses in a range of areas. This was up from €20 million in 2019 and is the largest amount of approved funding by the network to date.

The LEOs approved 13,091 trading online vouchers last year to assist businesses get online to trade or improve their existing online offering. This compared to 1,218 such vouchers issued in 2019.

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