€16.8 million of supports delivered by Council in 2020

A total of €16.8m in supports have been provided by Carlow County Council to the business community for business support and economic development projects in 2020, as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Details of the business supports have been outlined to members at the December Council Meeting.

Speaking about the support and the plans for the future Michael Rainey, Director of Services for Planning, Economic Development and Corporate and said “there had been a substantial number of supports available to businesses across County Carlow during 2020 and our Local Enterprise Office and Finance Unit have delivered on a variety of projects both locally and nationally designed to react to the requirements of the business community”. The Director continued to say, “that while financial support to companies was important it should be noted that capacity development and sustainability supports have also played a critical role in the response effort with many companies looking to rethink their business models with the support of the Local Enterprise Office”. Concluding the Director said “while 2020 has been a challenging year for our business community we acknowledge that 2021 will present new challenges and strategically we are looking to the future to ensure that Carlow companies will be supported in the short and long term”.

Acknowledging the work of the Council in 2020 in supporting the business community, Kathleen Holohan, Chief Executive with Carlow County Council said  “There was never been a more important time for businesses to take advantage of the supports given in this very challenging situation that we find ourselves in and with the initial impacts of Brexit over the coming week we will continue to roll out a suite of relevant supports in 2021”.

Kathleen continued to say “As Chief Executive we have worked with a variety of key stakeholders in 2020 in order to deliver our services and our partnership with Enterprise Ireland ensured that we as an organisation could response to Covid-19 in an effective way , while locally our Team worked with key stakeholders to ensure that we had suitable supports based on local need”.

The Chief Executive concluded by saying  “The range of supports and advisory services that are available are of a scale and a nature that are unprecedented and It’s important that all businesses survive and hopefully thrive in due course after this difficult period”.

Acknowledging the huge body of work being undertaken by the Council, Cllr. Tom O’Neill  Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council said “I know that the economic and human impact of Covid-19 will be remembered for generations and this coupled with the upcoming challenges and opportunities around Brexit present us all with a moment in history where we all need to stand with one voice and support our business community who provide employment to the citizens of County Carlow”.

Ends

For further information contact Kieran Comerford on 086/8252037 e-mail kcomerford@carlowcoco.ie 

*End November 2020