Local Enterprise Office Priming Grant

The Priming Grant is a Local Enterprise Office start-up grant for micro-enterprises within their first 18 months of trading. It covers up to 50% of eligible costs such as capital items, salaries, marketing and consultancy, with a published maximum of a fixed quote. Most awards are a fraction of that ceiling and are decided by an evaluation committee. New manufacturing or internationally traded services businesses in their first 18 months with fewer than 10 employees.

What this scheme funds

Start-up funding for micro-enterprises trading under 18 months — up to 50% of eligible capital, salary and marketing cost.

  • Capital items required to start trading
  • Salary costs for new employment created by the project
  • Consultancy, innovation and marketing costs
  • Website and digital marketing costs where they form part of the approved business plan
  • General overheads directly attributable to the start-up project

What it does not fund

These costs are routinely ruled ineligible under this scheme.

  • Retail, personal services, professional services and most local-market-only businesses
  • Costs incurred before the application is submitted
  • Businesses already trading more than 18 months (use the Business Expansion Grant)
  • Replacement of existing capacity rather than new activity

Who is eligible

Eligibility is decided by Local Enterprise Office, not by Digital Bridge.

  • A micro-enterprise with 10 or fewer employees
  • Trading for less than 18 months
  • In manufacturing or internationally traded services, or otherwise eligible under your LEO's rules
  • A written business plan with realistic financial projections
  • Tax compliant and able to evidence matching funds

How to apply

Typical end-to-end timeline: Allow two to four weeks to prepare a credible plan, then four to ten weeks to evaluation committee depending on the office's meeting cycle. In our experience the plan, not the paperwork, is the slow part.

  • Contact the Local Enterprise Office for the county where the business operates
  • Discuss eligibility with a business adviser before spending anything
  • Prepare a business plan with three-year projections and evidence of matching finance
  • Submit the application with supporting quotations for every cost line
  • Present to the evaluation committee if invited
  • Wait for a written letter of offer before incurring the approved expenditure

Evidence you will need

Applications are usually delayed by missing paperwork rather than by weak projects.

  • Business plan and financial projections
  • Written quotations for each cost line
  • Evidence of matching finance
  • Tax clearance access number
  • Bank statements or accounts as requested

Why applications get rejected

The recurring reasons assessors give under this scheme.

  • The business is local-market retail or services, which is outside scope in most counties
  • Expenditure already incurred
  • Projections not supported by evidence of demand
  • No matching finance in place

What Digital Bridge delivers under this scheme

Illustrative net cost applies the published rate (Up to 50% of eligible cost) to our published engagement bands. It is arithmetic, not an offer of funding.

  • Brochure website and launch-ready online presence — list from €1,200, illustrative net cost ≈ a fixed quote at the published 50% rate, if approved as an eligible cost

Who decides this grant, and what we are responsible for

Local Enterprise Office decides eligibility, approval and payment under this scheme. Digital Bridge supplies the work and the documentation an assessor asks for from the supplier side.

  • Digital Bridge does not administer, assess, approve, pay or appeal any grant. Every decision is made by the funding body named on the scheme, under its own published rules.
  • This section is general information, not financial, tax, legal or grant-writing advice. It is not an application, a pre-approval, or any form of assurance that you will be funded.
  • Scheme rates, ceilings and eligibility change without notice and several supports are administered locally, so your Local Enterprise Office or agency may apply different rules to the ones published here. Confirm everything with the funder in writing before you commit.
  • Our questionnaire is a deterministic guide based only on the answers you give. It cannot see your accounts, your sector classification, your state-aid position or your previous awards, so it can suggest a scheme you are ultimately found ineligible for.
  • If an application is refused, delayed, reduced or clawed back, our fees for work you have instructed remain payable. We recommend you do not instruct chargeable work until your funder confirms in writing what it will support.
  • Costs incurred before a funder receives your application are almost always ineligible. Timing is your responsibility, and we will always tell you when we think you should wait.

How the LEO Priming Grant works in practice

Priming is a first-18-months grant, and that window is enforced strictly. A business that has been trading for two years is not a candidate no matter how new the project is. The scheme is also sector-restricted: it is aimed at manufacturing and internationally traded services, which rules out much of the retail, hospitality and local services economy. Evaluation committees look for displacement — whether the new business simply takes trade from existing local firms — so applications that show export potential or a genuinely new offering fare better. The published ceiling is high and almost never approached. Realistic applications ask for a modest amount against a costed plan and are far more likely to succeed.

What we do as the supplier on the quote

Start-ups applying for Priming usually need a digital quote that is honest about phasing. A first-18-months business rarely needs the platform it imagines it needs, and a large quote can make the whole application look speculative. We scope a first phase that lets the business trade and measure, and we set out what phase two would cost separately so the plan reads as considered rather than open-ended. Where salary costs are part of the application we keep our own quote clearly separate from employment costs, because mixing them makes the eligible cost base harder for a committee to isolate.

Can a Priming Grant pay for my website?

Often yes, where the website is part of the approved business plan and the LEO accepts it as an eligible marketing or capital cost. It is decided case by case, so ask your adviser before you commission anything — a website bought before the application is received is almost always ineligible.

Does a retail shop qualify?

Usually not. Most Local Enterprise Offices restrict grant aid to manufacturing and internationally traded services to avoid displacing existing local businesses. Retail and local services can still access mentoring, training and, in many cases, digitalisation supports.

Is €150,000 realistic?

No, not for a typical micro-enterprise. That is the published ceiling. Real awards are usually in the low thousands to low tens of thousands and are tied to the employment and capital in your plan.

Does Priming cover a website?

Website and digital marketing costs can be eligible where they form part of the approved business plan, but they are rarely the centre of a successful application. Present digital spend as one line in a costed start-up plan rather than as the project itself.

Source and last review

Scheme parameters checked against Local Enterprise Office — Financial Supports (https://www.localenterprise.ie/Discover-Business-Supports/Financial-Supports/) on 2026-08-21. Reviewed quarterly. Next scheduled review: November 2026. Digital Bridge is a supplier, not the awarding body. Eligibility, approval and payment are decided solely by the funding body named on each scheme. Figures below are the published scheme parameters as at the review date shown, and net costs are arithmetic illustrations of the published rate applied to our published prices. Always confirm current rules with the funder before you commit to any spend, because expenditure incurred before an application is received is almost always ineligible.

Who genuinely qualifies for the Priming Grant?

Priming is strictly a first-18-months grant for micro-enterprises with 10 or fewer employees, and that window is enforced without exception — a business trading two years is not a candidate regardless of how new the specific project is. It is also sector-restricted to manufacturing and internationally traded services in most counties, which rules out the bulk of retail, hospitality and purely local services businesses. It covers up to 50% of eligible cost including capital items, new salaries, consultancy and marketing, against a published ceiling of a fixed quote that almost no real award approaches; typical awards are a small fraction of that figure. Evaluation committees look closely for displacement, meaning whether the new business would simply take trade from existing local firms, so applications showing export potential or a genuinely new offering fare better. Applications commonly fail where the business is local-market retail outside scope, where expenditure has already been incurred before submission, or where the projections lack any real evidence of demand.

How should a start-up scope digital spend within a Priming application?

A first-18-months business rarely needs the full platform it imagines it needs, and presenting a large digital quote inside a Priming application can make the whole plan look speculative to an evaluator rather than considered. We scope a first phase sized to let the business actually trade and start measuring performance, with a second phase costed separately so the plan reads as sequenced rather than open-ended — a brochure website from €1,200 is often the realistic first step, not the a fixed quote-plus authority-tier build a company might otherwise be tempted toward this early. Website and digital marketing costs can be eligible where they genuinely form part of the approved business plan, but they are rarely, if ever, the centre of a successful application; present digital spend as one costed line within a wider start-up plan rather than as the project itself. Where salary costs also feature in the application, we keep our own quote clearly distinct from employment costs, since mixing the two makes the eligible cost base harder for a committee to isolate and assess. The evaluation committee alone decides whether and how much to approve.

How we decide what to quote for Leo Priming Grant

Digital Bridge delivers this work from Gorey Business Park in County Wexford on a fixed written scope — one price, one delivery date — and the client owns the finished work outright. The Priming Grant is a Local Enterprise Office start-up grant for micro-enterprises within their first 18 months of trading. Before a figure is given, four questions are answered in order, and a named person signs the scope off — it is never generated automatically.

  1. Is this the right job at all? We look at what you already have online, whether the domain and Google Business Profile are in your own name, and what Leo Priming Grant customers currently ask you for. If a repair or a single page would solve it, we quote that instead.
  2. What does the work have to achieve first? The scope is written around one outcome — enquiries, bookings, orders or credibility — and anything else is listed as optional so it can be dropped without renegotiating.
  3. What will it cost and when will it be live? Page count, content readiness, integrations and whether photography or copy still has to be produced set the price and the date, both fixed in writing before work starts.
  4. How will people in Leo Priming Grant find it afterwards? Local search setup is included in a build; ongoing SEO is a separate optional retainer you can start or stop with notice.

Checkable facts behind this Leo Priming Grant page

Author and reviewer: Joey Bray, founder of Digital Bridge, building and maintaining Irish business websites since 2016. Studio address: Gorey Business Park, Gorey, Co. Wexford. Phone: 085 224 1848. Every claim below can be checked before you speak to us.

  • Published starting prices, not estimates released after a sales call — see the pricing page for the full ladder.
  • Live client sites you can open and test yourself are listed in the work section.
  • One contact from first call to launch, rather than an account handler relaying messages.
  • A plain-text mirror of this page is published for AI assistants at the same path with a .md extension.