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

Which form you need

There are three forms on Microfinance Ireland's application documents page, each an editable PDF.

This page walks through the €5,000 to €50,000 form. The Small Loan form is shorter, with word limits on most answers.

Search results still turn up old copies on Local Enterprise Office websites, including a COVID-19 Business Loan form and a €5,000 to €25,000 form. Do not use them. The top loan went up to €50,000 in September 2024. The current form is headed €5,000 to €50,000 and marked Version 2025/01 on every page.

Where to get the current form

1. Download it from the application documents page. The current files went up in March 2026.
2. Save it to your computer before you type into it. Microfinance Ireland warns that otherwise your information will not be saved.
3. Or register your interest on its website, and it emails you the forms with its application guidelines.

It also runs a monthly webinar on applying. Your Local Enterprise Office can help with the form for free, and its referral letter brings the rate down from 6.5% to 5.5%. You can look up the enterprise office that covers your area.

Pages 1 to 4: eligibility, the business, the money and the plan

1. Page 1, eligibility and checklist. You declare that the business has fewer than 10 full-time employees, turnover under €2 million and balance sheet assets of no more than €2 million, and that it cannot get finance from a bank or other commercial lender. A formal bank decline letter may be required. Sign, date and tick the checklist.
2. Page 2, Part 1: business details. Names, addresses, each owner's shareholding, the main activity, the registration number, time trading and staff numbers. List everyone who owns or controls 25% or more.
3. Page 2, Part 2: application details. The amount, the purpose, and what you are putting in yourself and where it comes from. Then two tables. Planned Expenditure lists what you will spend the money on. Source of Funds splits the same total between your own money, family, other investors, a bank loan, grants, the Microfinance Ireland loan and anything else. The two totals should match.
4. Page 3: borrowings and tax. Every account and loan you hold, with balances, monthly repayments, end dates and any arrears. Then whether your tax is up to date, whether you have a Revenue agreement, and any bankruptcy, insolvency, judgment or disqualification. A yes needs an explanation in your plan.
5. Pages 3 and 4, Part 3: your business plan. Boxes for what the business does, your experience, products, customers and suppliers, key staff, market research, competitors, what makes you different, how the money will be used, and your own background. Our outline of the headings a lender expects in a plan helps with the wording.

Pages 5 to 7: you, your money and the signatures

1. Page 5, Part 4: personal details. For the main owner: address history, date of birth, PPS number, dependants, home and job. Then your income, and what you own and owe with the repayment on each. Page 6 repeats this for a second owner.
2. Page 7: State aid and consent. List any State aid received in the last 3 years, and any for this project. Tick the consent box for your personal data. The form says that without it, your application cannot be processed.
3. Signatures. Every applicant or partner signs. For a limited company, at least one authorised signatory signs.

What to attach, and the 12-month cashflow

• the cashflow forecast, month by month for the next 12 months, on Microfinance Ireland's spreadsheet
• 6 months of bank statements, business and personal
• your most recent year-end accounts, if you are already trading
• for a company or partnership: 6 months of personal statements and a Central Credit Register report for each director, partner and shareholder with 25% or more

The spreadsheet lists money coming in, including sales, the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance, grants, your own money and the Microfinance Ireland loan. Money going out has three lines for what the loan buys, then stock, wages, your own drawings, rent, VAT, other loans and the repayments on this loan. It works out a closing bank balance for each month.

Its notes ask you to explain in your plan how you worked out sales, purchases and staff costs, and to allow for quieter seasons.

A cashflow for the Department of Social Protection leaves the allowance out, as our post on the plan an Intreo adviser reads explains.

Mistakes that stall an application

Microfinance Ireland says its approval rate is held down by incomplete applications, which are withdrawn without being assessed. We set out the figures in how many applications were approved in 2025, and why.

• using an old form, such as the COVID-19 or €25,000 version
• leaving the page 1 declaration or the page 7 signatures blank
• not ticking the consent box on page 7
• Part 2 tables whose totals do not match
• a cashflow with no repayments on this loan
• emailing photos. By email it takes PDF files only
• for a company, no personal credit report for each director and 25% shareholder

Send everything together, through the online portal, by email to applications@microfinanceireland.ie, or by post in one envelope. A credit decision is due within 10 working days of a complete application.

Common questions

Keep reading

• the six Microfinance Ireland loans, the rate and the sectors it will not fund
• filling in a year of monthly income and spending, line by line
• a pack that completes the form and the spreadsheet for you