Business supports by county

Business grants in Laois: your Local Enterprise Office, council schemes and loans

Local Enterprise Office Laois is in the Business Support Unit at County Hall, Portlaoise, and takes grant applications through an online portal. Its own FAQ says most retail and professional services cannot get its cash grants, so this page also covers Laois County Council's rates grant for new businesses in premises that have been empty for six months.

Checked against the official sources on 3 October 2026.

Local Enterprise Office Laois

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 Laois office can and cannot fund.

Local Enterprise Office Laois

Address
Business Support Unit, County Hall, JFL Avenue, Portlaoise, Co. Laois, R32 EHP9
Phone
057 866 1800
Email
localenterprise@laoiscoco.ie
Website
localenterprise.ie/Laois
How to apply
Online portal. The office strongly advises you to contact it before applying so it can check your eligibility. Applications are then made on its online portal, and the Feasibility Study Grant form includes a short video answer about you and your business. An executive meets you to discuss the application, and it goes to the next Evaluation and Approvals Committee meeting. Projects over €50,000 also need Enterprise Ireland approval.
Courses
Start Your Own Business courses and other training
Checker

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 Laois County Council offers

Shop Front Improvement and Accessibility Grant Scheme 2026

50% of the approved cost, up to €750 per unit. Up to €1,000 where the work includes accessibility works such as ramps and railings

Owners or leaseholders of independently owned retail or commercial premises on the ground floor, fronting a public road, in a zoned town or village centre (in Portlaoise, the Town Centre Primary zone). Chain stores may be excluded. A leaseholder needs the owner's written consent. You must not owe the council rates or other charges unless you keep to a payment plan, and a business approved in the last 3 years cannot reapply.

Online application on the Local Enterprise Office Laois portal, or a hard copy form posted to the Business Support Unit, Laois County Council, James Fintan Lalor Avenue, Portlaoise, R32 EHP9, or emailed to businesssupport@laoiscoco.ie. You need a decision before any work starts. After the work you send a supplier set-up form, photographs, paid invoices and bank statements, and a council official inspects before payment. Queries: 057 866 4000.

Closed. The 2026 scheme opened on 2 March 2026 and closed on 31 August 2026.

Two painting schemes also ran in 2026 for designated streets in Mountmellick and Ballinakill. They paid 75% of painting costs, up to €1,000, for commercial, residential and empty buildings, and closed on 1 June 2026.

See the scheme on the council's site

Business Incentive Scheme for Vacant Premises

A grant equal to 75% of your rates in year 1, 50% in year 2 and 25% in year 3. Full rates are due from year 4.

A new business opening in a rateable premises that has been vacant for more than six months. You must own it or hold a lease of at least 12 months. It covers use as a shop, an office, a medical or health clinic, or a creche, day nursery or day centre. Takeaways, arcades and premises with gaming machines, head shops, betting offices, nightclubs, pubs and cash for gold or clothes shops are excluded, and so is a business moving to a similar sized premises in the designated area. You must owe the council nothing, and a business approved in the last 3 years cannot reapply.

Apply online on the Local Enterprise Office Laois portal, or post or email the hard copy form to the Business Support Unit (businesssupport@laoiscoco.ie). Include your lease, a tax clearance certificate, proof of at least 6 months' vacancy, your latest rates bill, and confirmation that you have sent a Section 11 form and a standing order to the Rates Department. Queries: 057 866 4000.

Open. The online form shows no closing date. The 2026 terms do not name the eligible towns. An older council page lists designated areas in Portlaoise, Mountmellick, Abbeyleix, Mountrath, Rathdowney and Portarlington, so check your street with the Business Support Unit.

See the scheme on the council's site

Small Business Support Scheme 2026 (early payment incentive)

7% off your 2026 commercial rates. It applies to the current year's rates demand only

Ratepayers occupying property in Laois with 2026 commercial rates of €10,000 or less, who pay the 2026 rates and any arrears in full by 31 August 2026, or by agreed regular standing order payments that start straight away and clear the bill by 31 December 2026.

No application form is published. Pay in full, or ask the Rates section for a standing order form on 057 868 9367 or rates@laoiscoco.ie.

The 31 August 2026 date for paying in full has passed. Standing order payers must clear the bill by 31 December 2026.

See the scheme on the council's site

Vacant Commercial Property Incentive Scheme

A package of grants and mentoring to lower the cost of opening in an empty town centre premises. It is open to new retail businesses setting up in a town centre, retail businesses moving or expanding into a town centre, and town centre retailers opening a second location there. You start with an online expression of interest form, and an adviser talks to you about eligibility. The form shows no closing date.

See the scheme on the council's site

Canal Road Business Park, Portarlington

The council bought 6 acres of the former Avon site in Portarlington to create four fully serviced industrial sites, due to be ready for development in March 2026. The work got €999,963 from the EU Just Transition Fund. Businesses interested in a site can phone the council's Economic Development Officer on 057 866 1800.

See the scheme on the council's site

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LEADER funding in Laois

LEADER pays grants to rural businesses and community groups. In Laois it is delivered by one local group, and their staff help you put an application together.

Laois Community and Enterprise Development Company, delivered by Connect Laois (formerly Laois Partnership Company)

County Laois

Takes expressions of interest through a form on its LEADER page. We found no closing date. Grants are paid in arrears, so you need proof of match funding and bridging finance to apply.

Phone: 057 866 1900

LEADER on this group's site

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.

Connect Laois (formerly Laois Partnership Company)

County Laois. Office on New Road, Portlaoise, R32 VY22

Phone: 057 866 1900

Visit its website

Also in Laois

  • The nearest New Frontiers programme for early-stage founders is at South East Technological University, Carlow campus (Xcelerate), beside the Laois border. Technological University of the Shannon also runs it at its Athlone campus with Maynooth University for the Midlands and Mid-East.

Good to know in Laois

Local Enterprise Office Laois works from the Business Support Unit in County Hall, Portlaoise, which also runs the council's business grants. Its Feasibility Study Grant pays up to 60% of the cost, to a maximum of €15,000, because Laois is in the Border, Midland and Western region (other regions get 50%). The office says this grant is only for new and innovative products or services not already on the market. Its financial assistance FAQ says most retail, professional services and consultancies would not be eligible for cash grants.

The Laois rates grant for new businesses in empty premises covers 75% of rates in year 1, 50% in year 2 and 25% in year 3 for a shop, office, clinic or creche opening in a unit that has been vacant for more than six months. Smaller ratepayers, with a bill of €10,000 or less, also get 7% off if they pay in full on time or by standing order. Laois's 2026 shop front grant paid half the cost, up to €750, and closed on 31 August 2026.

LEADER for rural Laois businesses is delivered by Connect Laois, the county's local development company, which changed its name from Laois Partnership Company. A private business can get up to 75% of an investment project, to a maximum of €200,000, and up to 90% of an analysis and development project, to a maximum of €30,000. Its priorities include green and circular economy businesses, farm diversification, rural food production and tourism.

Laois is inside the EU Just Transition Fund area. The Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly says the only call still running in 2026, the START Scheme, is for local authorities, and no further calls are planned. The fund's grant schemes for small businesses, including Fáilte Ireland's tourism investment scheme, closed in 2024 and January 2025. Laois County Council has a Just Transition Officer at The Cube on Church Street, Portlaoise (057 867 4388), for businesses and communities affected by the end of peat production.

What every business in Laois can apply for

Paid service: business plan pack, €99

We can write the business plan for your allowance application

Starting a business in Laois? 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
€99Order my plan pack, €99See what is in the pack

€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 Laois?

Local Enterprise Office Laois is in the Business Support Unit, County Hall, JFL Avenue, Portlaoise, R32 EHP9. Phone 057 866 1800 or email localenterprise@laoiscoco.ie, or request a callback on its contact page. The contact page gives opening hours of 9am to 5pm, Monday to Thursday, closed for lunch from 1pm to 2pm, but the footer of the same website says Monday to Friday, so phone before calling in on a Friday.

Can a shop or cafe in Laois get a LEO grant?

Not the main cash grants. Local Enterprise Office Laois cash grants (Feasibility, Priming and Business Expansion) are for manufacturing and internationally traded services businesses with up to 10 employees, and its application portal excludes retail, personal services, professional services and local building services. A shop or cafe can apply for the Grow Digital Voucher (50% of the cost, up to €5,000, after a Digital for Business consultant's report) and the Energy Efficiency Grant (75% of the cost, up to €10,000, after a Green for Business report). It can also use the office's mentoring and training and apply for a Microfinance Ireland loan. A shop opening in a unit that has been empty for six months may also get the council's rates grant.

Does Laois County Council give grants to businesses?

Yes. The Business Incentive Scheme pays 75%, 50% and 25% of rates over three years for a new business in a premises vacant for more than six months, and the online form shows no closing date. Ratepayers with a bill of €10,000 or less get 7% off for paying in full by 31 August 2026 or by standing order by 31 December 2026. The Vacant Commercial Property Incentive Scheme offers grants and mentoring to retailers opening in empty town centre units. The 2026 shop front grant closed on 31 August 2026. The Business Support Unit takes queries on 057 866 4000 or businesssupport@laoiscoco.ie.

Who helps with a Back to Work Enterprise Allowance business plan in Laois?

Connect Laois, formerly Laois Partnership Company, on New Road in Portlaoise (057 866 1900). It says your local social welfare office can direct you to its supports, and one of its Community Development Officers gives advice, training and help with the business plan. The Department of Social Protection decides on the allowance. Local Enterprise Office Laois also runs a free introduction to starting a business on Zoom on 13 October 2026, then a Start Your Own Business evening course from 3 November 2026, partly at Portlaoise Enterprise Centre, which costs €30.

Is LEADER funding open in Laois?

Connect Laois takes LEADER expressions of interest through a form on its website, and we found no closing date for 2026. A private business can get up to 75% of an investment project, to a maximum of €200,000. LEADER grants are paid after you spend the money, so you must show match funding and bridging finance when you apply. Phone 057 866 1900 to talk about your project first.

Where this comes from

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.