€17 million in funding will help get much-needed projects over the line – Ahearn

Funding of €17 million announced by Government today will help get much-needed enterprise protects over the line and address inflationary costs, according to Fine Gael Senator Garrett Ahearn.

Senator Ahearn spoke as Ministers of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Damien English and Robert Troy, announced funding of up to €17 million for regional enterprise projects.

Importantly, funding of up to €5 million is being made available to support detailed feasibility studies and for priming project applications to develop strong regional enterprise proposals identified through the Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024.

In addition, €12 million has been secured to finish innovative enterprise development projects across the country that are already underway and previously funded by Government.

Senator Ahearn, the party’s Seanad spokesperson on Enterprise and Trade, said: “Today’s announcement includes funding for projects that are due to be completed soon, but increased construction costs have meant that without this new funding, these unplanned costs would have prevented getting the projects over the line.

“The funding recognises the difficult times in terms of having certainty on prices in terms of labour and material costs when it comes to construction.

“This contingency fund will be made available to enterprise projects already funded through the Regional Enterprise Development and Border Enterprise Development Funds. Enterprise Ireland will reach out directly to those qualifying projects across the country.

“I’m especially pleased that the fund of €5 million announced today will be available to encourage new proposals for enterprise development projects to promote entrepreneurship, clustering and innovation for our local business communities through new centres of excellence, hubs and other priority projects contained in the new Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024.

“This will help maintain and create new businesses and employment opportunities in my own constituency of Tipperary and for the Mid-West to showcase and expand their enterprise offering.

“The funding announced today will go some way towards ensuring continued development of regional enterprise plans and protects to support job creation in all regions throughout Ireland,” Senator Ahearn concluded.