Please check individual financial supports for eligibility on specific grants. For instance the Energy Efficiency Grant and Grow Digital Voucher are open to a range of business sectors and enterprises with less than 50 full time employees.

For Feasibility Study, Priming, Business Expansion and TAME grants, generally the below criteria is in place.

Local Enterprise Offices can assist in the establishment and/or development of new and existing enterprises (limited company, individuals/sole trader, cooperatives and partnerships) provided that such enterprises/projects are capable of attaining commercial viability and subject to the following eligibility criteria:

• The enterprise must not employ more than 10 people;
• The enterprise must be a registered business entity in the Republic of Ireland; 
• The enterprise must be established and operate within the geographic location of the Local Enterprise Office;
• The enterprise must operate in the commercial sphere;
• The enterprise must demonstrate a market for the product/service;
• The enterprise must have potential for growth and new job creation; 
• The enterprise must demonstrate access to match funding/overall funding requirement; 
• The enterprise must be in the added-value manufacturing or services with the potential to trade internationally sectors.

Within the above eligibility criteria there are certain priorities and restrictions:

• Priority will be given to enterprises in the manufacturing or internationally traded services sectors which over time can develop into strong export entities and graduate to the Enterprise Ireland portfolio;
• Salary support only may be offered to unique tourism services projects that are focused predominantly on generating revenues from overseas visitors and which do not give rise to deadweight and/or displacement in the local economy;
• This grant aid does not support those areas such as primary food production, retail enterprises, personal services (eg hairdressers, gardeners, creches etc), professional services (accountants, solicitors etc), construction/local building services, wholesaling, distribution and transport. These are  considered to give rise to displacement (where the projects simply displace business from other players in the market).
• The sector of the economy in which an enterprise is operating or intends to operate 
• The size or proposed size of the enterprise
• Any expenditure incurred, prior to receipt of application form, will not be eligible for grant support.

In general Local Enterprise Office Donegal cannot offer grant aid to:

• retail businesses;
• personal & professional services businesses;
• construction sector;
• primary agriculture businesses & primary food production;
• other local services that duplicate existing local businesses.