Local Enterprise Office Clare
The Local Enterprise Office is the first stop for any small business. Training, mentoring and advice are open to everyone. Its cash grants are only for manufacturing and internationally traded services businesses with up to 10 staff. What the Clare office can and cannot fund.
Local Enterprise Office Clare
- Address
- Áras Contae an Chláir, New Road, Ennis, Co. Clare, V95 DXP2
- Phone
- 065 6821616
- localenterprise@clarecoco.ie
- Website
- localenterprise.ie/Clare
- How to apply
- Application form, after a meeting with the office. You meet Local Enterprise Office staff first to talk through the project. If it may qualify, they ask you to complete an application form and send it with a business plan, three years of cash flow and profit and loss projections, a tax clearance certificate and quotes, before one of the published closing dates. The Evaluation and Approvals Committee gets the papers a week before it meets.
- Dates to know
- Last closing date for receipt of grant applications in 2026: 16 November 2026
- Courses
- Start Your Own Business courses and other training
Can your business get a LEO grant?
Four taps. The honest answer, and what you can use if the answer is no.
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What Clare County Council offers
€1,000 per property, or 80% of the cost if that is less
Businesses inside the Ennis Architectural Conservation Area, and standalone houses beside the town's public realm works. The grant is for painting, facade improvements and repairs to gutters and downpipes.
Online application form on the council's website. An occupier needs the owner's written consent.
Closed. The 2026 scheme took new applications until Friday 12 June 2026.
We found no 2026 shop front or paint scheme for other Clare towns.
A grant equal to 75% of your commercial rates in year 1 (up to €3,750), 50% in year 2 (up to €2,500) and 25% in year 3 (up to €1,250). You pay the rates in full first and the grant is applied to your account afterwards.
New businesses that move into a rated premises in a Clare town or village that has been vacant for two years or more. The annual rates bill must be less than €20,000, and you must own the premises or have a lease of at least 36 months. A business that is only relocating does not qualify. An existing business can qualify if it is expanding by more than 50%.
Send the application form to rates@clarecoco.ie, or by post, within the first calendar year of moving in, which means by 31 December. You need evidence of the two years of vacancy. Successful applicants must pay rates by direct debit and cannot use the council's other rates schemes at the same time.
Listed as operating on the council's commercial rates page for 2026. The guidance document is dated January 2022 and says the scheme can be reviewed at any time.
A credit of 5% of this year's commercial rates, taken off next year's bill
Ratepayers with a commercial rates bill of up to €10,000 who pay it in full by 31 August 2026, or through a direct debit plan that clears it by 31 December 2026. Vacant properties are excluded.
No application. The council applies the credit to qualifying accounts automatically.
Running for 2026 rates.
A rates credit for hospitality businesses whose bill is over €10,000 per unit: 5% of the year's rates, capped at €5,000, taken off the following year's bill. At least 60% of the business must support hospitality or tourism. The payment dates are the same as for the SME Scheme and the credit is applied automatically.
What would the council take off your rates?
Pick the council and put in the yearly rates bill for the premises.
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LEADER funding in Clare
LEADER pays grants to rural businesses and community groups. In Clare it is delivered by one local group, and their staff help you put an application together.
All of County Clare
Open to expressions of interest. The form can be filled in online, and a development officer contacts you once it has been reviewed.
Phone: 065 686 6800
Help with a business plan if you are on a welfare payment
If you are on a jobseeker's or other social welfare payment and want to start a business, a local development company helps you prepare the business plan for the enterprise allowances.
All of County Clare. Office at Westgate Business Park, Kilrush Road, Ennis
Phone: 065 686 6800
Also in Clare
- Clare is in the Western Development Commission region, so its loans and investment for western businesses are open to you.
- The nearest New Frontiers programme for early-stage founders is at Technological University of the Shannon, Limerick campus (Hartnett Enterprise Acceleration Centre), which lists Clare in its catchment.
Good to know in Clare
Local Enterprise Office Clare publishes closing dates for grant applications, and the last one for 2026 is 16 November. An application needs a signed form, a tax clearance certificate, a business plan, three years of cash flow and profit and loss projections, and three quotes for any equipment spend expected to be over €5,000. The office says an application is delayed if any of the documents are missing on the closing date.
Clare County Council gives small ratepayers a 5% credit against next year's rates without any application. Your bill must be €10,000 or less and paid in full by 31 August 2026, or by direct debit by 31 December 2026. For a new business in a premises vacant for two years or more, Clare's three-year rates grant for long-vacant premises is worth up to €3,750, €2,500 and €1,250.
Clare Local Development Company is the body to know outside the Local Enterprise Office. It is the Local Action Group for LEADER grants in Clare, with an online expression of interest form. It also runs free Start Your Own Business courses and helps people on a qualifying social welfare payment look at the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance.
Clare is one of the seven counties in the Western Development Commission's region. Western Development Commission loans for Clare businesses usually run from €50,000 to €300,000 over three to ten years, at commercial interest rates. It also makes equity investments of €250,000 to €1 million.
What every business in Clare can apply for
- Microfinance Ireland loans for Clare businesses: State-backed loans of €2,000 to €50,000 for businesses with fewer than 10 staff, start-ups included.
- the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance in Clare: keep your welfare payment for two years while you start a business.
- the Short-Term Enterprise Allowance in Clare: the same idea for people on Jobseeker's Benefit.
- the Grow Digital Voucher through the Clare office: half the cost of software and digital tools for small businesses.
- the Energy Efficiency Grant for Clare firms: help with the cost of cutting your energy bills.
- the Wage Subsidy Scheme for Clare employers: an hourly subsidy when you employ a person with a disability.
We can write the business plan for your allowance application
Starting a business in Clare? We write the business plan and 12-month cashflow that an allowance or a loan application asks for.
- Your business plan under the headings the Department of Social Protection asks for
- Your 12-month cashflow, month by month
- A prep sheet for the meeting with your adviser, and a guide to the form
€99 one-off, VAT included. You put in your figures and check your cashflow, then pay and answer the questions. A person prepares your pack within two working days. 14-day money-back promise. We cannot promise any funder will approve you.
Common questions
Where is the Local Enterprise Office in Ennis?
Local Enterprise Office Clare is in Áras Contae an Chláir, the county council building on New Road, Ennis, V95 DXP2. It is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Phone 065 6821616 or email localenterprise@clarecoco.ie.
Can a shop or cafe in Clare get a LEO grant?
Usually no. The cash grants from Local Enterprise Office Clare are for manufacturing and internationally traded services businesses with up to 10 staff, and the office's own FAQ says retail is never grant aided. A shop or cafe with 1 to 50 employees that has traded for six months can apply for the Grow Digital Voucher (50% of the cost, up to €5,000) and the Energy Efficiency Grant (75% of the cost, up to €10,000). Each one needs a consultant's report first. Mentoring and training, the council's rates credit and a Microfinance Ireland loan are the other options.
Does Clare County Council give grants to businesses?
It supports businesses mainly through commercial rates. Bills of up to €10,000 that are paid on time earn a 5% credit, hospitality businesses with bigger bills earn a 5% credit capped at €5,000, and a new business in a long-vacant premises can get a three-year rates grant. The Ennis streetscape grant of up to €1,000 for painting and facade work closed to new applications on 12 June 2026.
Who helps with a Back to Work Enterprise Allowance business plan in Clare?
Clare Local Development Company, at Westgate Business Park on the Kilrush Road in Ennis. It helps people on a qualifying social welfare payment look at the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance, and it runs free Start Your Own Business courses that cover business planning, marketing, tax and finance. Your Employment Personal Adviser at Intreo makes the referral. Phone 065 686 6800.
Can a Clare business get a Western Development Commission loan?
It can apply. Clare is in the Western Region along with Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo. The company must be registered, headquartered and controlled in the region. Loans usually run from €50,000 to €300,000 and the business must show it can repay from its cashflow, so this is for bigger borrowing than a first small loan.
Where this comes from
- Local Enterprise Office Clare, contact page
- Local Enterprise Office Clare, Evaluation and Approvals Committee and 2026 closing dates
- Local Enterprise Office Clare, the application process
- Local Enterprise Office Clare, frequently asked questions
- Local Enterprise Office Clare, Priming Grant
- Local Enterprise Office Clare, Start Your Own Business Programme
- Local Enterprise Offices, Grow Digital Voucher
- Local Enterprise Offices, Energy Efficiency Grant
- Clare County Council, commercial rates and rates relief schemes
- Clare County Council, Long Term Vacant Property Incentive Scheme guidance document (PDF)
- Clare County Council, Ennis ACA Streetscape Enhancement Scheme 2026
- Clare Local Development Company, LEADER expression of interest form
- Clare Local Development Company, starting a business
- gov.ie, LEADER Local Action Groups and implementing partners 2023 to 2027
- Western Development Commission, business investment
- gov.ie, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance
- New Frontiers, Technological University of the Shannon Limerick campus
Checked on 3 October 2026. We are an independent guide, not a government service. Closing dates and schemes change, so confirm with the office or the council before you rely on anything here.