Local Enterprise Office Leitrim
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 Leitrim office can and cannot fund.
Local Enterprise Office Leitrim
- Address
- Áras an Chontae, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, N41 PF67
- Phone
- 071 9650420
- info@leo.leitrimcoco.ie
- Website
- localenterprise.ie/Leitrim
- How to apply
- Online enquiry form, then a meeting and an application form. Start with the office's short online enquiry form, or book a free online session with a business adviser. If your project may qualify for grant aid, you meet the office and are asked to complete an application form, and staff can help you fill it in. The Evaluation Committee normally meets every six weeks and gets the papers a week before each meeting. No closing dates for 2026 are published.
- 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 Leitrim County Council offers
We found no shop front or paint grant for 2026. The Mohill Painting Scheme 2025 paid up to 80% of the cost, capped at €2,000 per property, for businesses and homes in Mohill town centre, and it closed on 27 March 2025. A search of the council's website for shop front grants found only its shopfront design guidelines.
We found no rates incentive for new businesses opening in vacant premises on the council's commercial rates pages, and a search of its website for rates incentives returned no results.
No early payment discount or rebate for small ratepayers is listed for 2026. The council does offer payment plans, so you can spread the year's rates over weekly, fortnightly or monthly payments from your bank account.
The council can write off up to 75% of the rates on a commercial property that is vacant, under the standard conditions of its scheme. Send the application form, your supporting documents and proof that you have paid the other 25% to your rate account manager at rates@leitrimcoco.ie.
A grant from the Croí Cónaithe Towns Fund, run through the council, towards turning vacant space above a shop into homes. The building must date from before 2008, the space must have been vacant for two years or more, and the ground floor must stay in commercial use, though it can be vacant when you apply. The new homes can be your own or rented out. Contact the Vacant Homes Officer at vacanthomes@leitrimcoco.ie.
The council promotes the Carrick Business Campus, 120,000 square feet of fitted office space in Carrick-on-Shannon for start-ups, small firms and larger companies (071 9650496). It also lists 11 remote working hubs in the county, including The Hive in Carrick-on-Shannon, the Junction Hub in Ballinamore, Mohill Enterprise Centre and the Manor Hub in Manorhamilton, bookable through connectedhubs.ie.
LEADER funding in Leitrim
LEADER pays grants to rural businesses and community groups. In Leitrim it is delivered by one local group, and their staff help you put an application together.
All of County Leitrim
Open, though the company says funding is limited in some categories. The first step is its online expression of interest form, and it then tells you whether you can go on to a full application. Capital projects can get up to 75%, analysis and development up to 90% and training up to 100%. Its 2026 targeted call for biodiversity, environment and water projects closed on 31 July 2026.
Phone: 071 96 41770
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 Leitrim. Main office on Church Street, Drumshanbo, with offices in Mohill Enterprise Centre and on New Line, Manorhamilton
Phone: 071 96 41770
Also in Leitrim
- Leitrim 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 Atlantic Technological University, Sligo campus (Innovation Centre), the nearest centre to Leitrim.
Good to know in Leitrim
Local Enterprise Office Leitrim is in the council offices at Áras an Chontae, Carrick-on-Shannon. You can book a free online session with a business adviser at any point in 2026, and the office says most of its training is free. Its next Start Your Own Business weekend course is free and runs on 17 and 18 October 2026 at The Hive on the Dublin Road in Carrick-on-Shannon. Grant applications go to an Evaluation Committee that normally meets every six weeks, and no closing dates are published.
Leitrim County Council does not run a shop front grant or a rates break for a new Leitrim business in an empty unit in 2026, as far as we could find. It does write off up to 75% of the rates on a vacant commercial property, once the other 25% is paid. The 2026 rate is 0.2686, so a property valued at €5,900 pays €1,584.74 for the year, and interest is charged on rates left unpaid.
Leitrim Development Company, based in Drumshanbo, is the one body for LEADER grants across County Leitrim. You fill in its online expression of interest form first. It also helps people on a qualifying welfare payment with the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance, and it says you need a business plan with at least a year of financial projections and a completed Start Your Own Business course before you apply.
Leitrim is one of the seven counties where the Western Development Commission lends to Leitrim firms, usually €50,000 to €300,000 at commercial rates. The council lists 11 remote working hubs in the county and promotes the Carrick Business Campus for office space. The nearest New Frontiers programme for start-up founders runs at ATU's Sligo campus.
What every business in Leitrim can apply for
- Microfinance Ireland loans for Leitrim 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 Leitrim: keep your welfare payment for two years while you start a business.
- the Short-Term Enterprise Allowance in Leitrim: the same idea for people on Jobseeker's Benefit.
- the Grow Digital Voucher through the Leitrim office: half the cost of software and digital tools for small businesses.
- the Energy Efficiency Grant for Leitrim firms: help with the cost of cutting your energy bills.
- the Wage Subsidy Scheme for Leitrim 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 Leitrim? 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 Carrick-on-Shannon?
Local Enterprise Office Leitrim is in Áras an Chontae, Carrick-on-Shannon, N41 PF67, the Leitrim County Council offices. It is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and closes for lunch from 1pm to 2pm. Phone 071 9650420 or email info@leo.leitrimcoco.ie. It also has a short online enquiry form.
Can a shop or cafe in Leitrim get a LEO grant?
Not the main cash grants. Leitrim's Feasibility, Priming and Business Expansion grants go mainly to manufacturing and internationally traded services businesses with up to 10 staff, and the office says retail, personal services, professional services and local building services are not eligible. 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, 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). Free training, mentoring and a Microfinance Ireland loan are the other options.
Does Leitrim County Council give grants to businesses?
Not many. We found no rates incentive for new businesses, no shop front grant and no early payment discount for 2026. The council can write off up to 75% of the rates on a vacant commercial property. The Vacant Above the Shop Grant helps owners turn empty space over a shop into homes, as long as the ground floor stays commercial. The Mohill Painting Scheme, which paid up to €2,000, was a 2025 scheme and closed on 27 March 2025.
Who helps with a Back to Work Enterprise Allowance business plan in Leitrim?
Leitrim Development Company, which works with Intreo on the allowance. It offers one-to-one advice, help with a business plan and Start Your Own Business courses. It says you need a business plan with at least one year of financial projections, registration with Revenue, a completed course and confirmation from Intreo, and both the company and Intreo must approve the business before you start. Phone 071 96 41770.
Is LEADER funding open in Leitrim?
Yes. Leitrim Development Company says LEADER funding is open in the county, although money is limited in some categories. Fill in its online expression of interest form first, and it will tell you whether you can make a full application. Capital projects can get up to 75% of the cost. Its 2026 call for biodiversity and water projects closed on 31 July 2026.
Where this comes from
- Local Enterprise Office Leitrim, contact page
- Local Enterprise Office Leitrim, enquiry form
- Local Enterprise Office Leitrim, FAQs and application process
- Local Enterprise Office Leitrim, Evaluation Committee
- Local Enterprise Office Leitrim, eligibility for Feasibility, Priming and Business Expansion grants
- Local Enterprise Office Leitrim, training
- Local Enterprise Office Leitrim, Discuss Your Business with a LEO Business Advisor
- Local Enterprise Office Leitrim, Start Your Own Business weekend course, 17 and 18 October 2026
- Local Enterprise Offices, Grow Digital Voucher
- Local Enterprise Offices, Energy Efficiency Grant
- Leitrim County Council, commercial rates
- Leitrim County Council, general rates information 2026
- Leitrim County Council, abatement of rates for vacant commercial properties
- Leitrim County Council, rates payment plans
- Leitrim County Council, Mohill Painting Scheme 2025
- Leitrim County Council, Vacant Above the Shop Grant
- Leitrim County Council, funding schemes
- Leitrim County Council, remote working hubs
- Leitrim County Council, Carrick Business Campus
- Leitrim Development Company, LEADER funding
- Leitrim Development Company, economic development and job creation under LEADER
- Leitrim Development Company, biodiversity, environmental and water resources funding call (June 2026)
- Leitrim Development Company, business start-up
- Leitrim Development Company, contact details
- gov.ie, LEADER Local Action Groups and implementing partners 2023 to 2027
- gov.ie, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance
- Western Development Commission, business investment
- New Frontiers, Atlantic Technological University Sligo 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.