Business blog: plain answers on grants, loans and starting up in Ireland

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• Back to Work Enterprise Allowance business plan: what it must contain and how to write it

  The Department of Social Protection publishes no template for this plan. Its guidelines set a short minimum: a full description of the idea, a business cashflow...

  3 October 2026

• Enterprise Support Grant application form: where it comes from, and how to claim step by step

  There is no Enterprise Support Grant form to download. Your Employment Personal Adviser at Intreo gives you the Department of Social Protection's form. The grant pays up...

  3 October 2026

• Government grants for small businesses in Ireland: the 2026 list, by what you need

  A small business that is already trading can get government money in 2026 for energy, software, staff and a premises, whatever it sells. The bigger grants for growth are...

  3 October 2026

• Microfinance Ireland application form: which one you need, and how to fill it in page by page

  Microfinance Ireland has a form for loans of €5,000 to €50,000 and a shorter one for Small Loans of €2,000 to €5,000. Get the current version from its own website, not...

  3 October 2026

• How hard is it to get a Microfinance Ireland loan? What the 2025 figures show

  In 2025 Microfinance Ireland approved 511 loans and declined 282. Another 597 were withdrawn without a decision, many of them because documents were missing. Of the...

  3 October 2026

• Priming Grant application form: who can use it, what it asks, and what happens next

  The Priming Grant form is only for a business that makes something or sells a service abroad, has up to 10 staff and is in its first 18 months. Shops, cafes, salons...

  3 October 2026

• Grants for sole traders in Ireland: what is open in 2026, and what is not

  There is no general cash grant for sole traders in Ireland. The €1,000 grant in many search results was a Covid-19 payment that has closed. What you can get depends on...

  3 October 2026

• Start-up grants in Ireland: what a new business can really get in 2026

  A new business that makes something or sells abroad can still get start-up money in 2026: a Priming Grant, a place on New Frontiers or Enterprise Ireland's pre-seed...

  3 October 2026

• Start-up loans in Ireland: who will lend to a business with no trading history, and who will not

  In the Republic, a business with no trading record can apply to Microfinance Ireland, to credit unions that do business lending, to the banks with a business plan, and...

  3 October 2026

• Wage Subsidy Scheme application form: the three forms, the papers, and how you claim

  There is no single Wage Subsidy Scheme form. You, the employer, fill in WSS1ER, the employee fills in WSS1EE, and the two of you complete the Work Adaptation Report...

  3 October 2026