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

50% of the cost of the works before VAT, up to a maximum grant of €600

Retail and hospitality businesses in an area the council designates as a core retail area of a town or village, with priority for smaller independent businesses. The property must be listed as Hospitality or Retail-Local on the Longford valuation list, with a yearly rates bill under €10,000, and this year's rates must be paid in full. One grant per unit. Businesses already getting a rebate under the Business Incentive Scheme cannot apply.

Application form, completed and signed, to the Local Enterprise Office, Longford County Council, Áras an Chontae, Longford, with a description of the works. The owner, or a lessee with the owner's written consent, can apply. Work done from 1 March 2026 can count, but nothing done before approval is paid for. The grant is paid after the work is finished and inspected, on paid invoices, bank statements and tax clearance details, and must be drawn down within four months of the offer.

Closed. The Local Enterprise Office's scheme page now says it is closed to new applications. Applications were taken first come, first served while the 2026 budget lasted.

Eligible work includes painting, new windows, doors or signs, floral displays, repairs to the shopfront and upper floors, removing neon signs and external shutters, and access improvements. Whether the scheme continues after 2026 will be decided at the last Economic and Rural Enterprise Development committee meeting of 2026.

See the scheme on the council's site

A grant at the end of each year equal to 70% of the rates paid in year 1, 50% in year 2 and 25% in year 3. You pay the rates in full first and can claim within a month of paying each year's rates.

A newly established business, a business relocating or expanding from outside County Longford, or an existing business expanding into a second premises. The premises must be a commercially rated shop, office, commercial or industrial unit that has been vacant for at least six months and is on the council's Register of Vacant Properties, made by 31 January each year. You need a lease of at least three years on a rolling basis, or proof of ownership, tax clearance, a standing order for council charges and the right planning permission. Takeaways, amusement arcades, head shops, betting offices, nightclubs, private members' clubs, moneylenders, discount stores and adult shops are not generally covered, and the council may refuse a project that would take trade from existing businesses.

Download the scheme document and application form from the Local Enterprise Office's website and send them to the Local Enterprise Office, Longford County Council, with evidence of the vacancy, your lease or Land Registry certificate, evidence of planning consent and proof that rates and council charges are paid. A Business Incentive Scheme sub-committee assesses each application.

Open. The scheme runs until 31 December 2026 and is reviewed each year. An approved business keeps the grant for all three years even if the scheme is later changed or withdrawn.

See the scheme on the council's site

A rates rebate that softened the 7% rise in the 2026 rate on valuation, so the real increase is 0% on a bill of up to €1,000, 1% up to €2,000, 2% up to €3,000, 2.5% up to €5,000 and 4% above that

Ratepayers across County Longford, with the size of the rebate depending on the yearly rates bill for each property. The council says it benefits 86% of its ratepayers.

The council's rates page does not describe an application. Ask your rate collector, through rates@longfordcoco.ie, how it is applied to your account.

Adopted at the 2026 budget meeting and in place for 2026.

See the scheme on the council's site

The council's 2026 budget continues its vacant property abatement scheme, which writes off 100% of the commercial rates invoiced in 2026 on a vacant property.

See the scheme on the council's site

Longford Town is one of nine Night-Time Economy pilot locations. In the 2026 Café Lates pilot, the council invited cafés in the town centre to trial evening opening from 6pm with alcohol-free events, weekly or monthly, and three cafés are taking part until the end of the year. The council's Night-Time Economy Grant Scheme paid for new evening events in 2025, and its second call closed on 15 August 2025.

See the scheme on the council's site

Hubs around the county offer hot desks and offices, and some have full office space for Longford start-ups of four or five people (broadbandofficer@longfordcoco.ie). The Local Enterprise Office is also the first point of contact for council business services, including rates advice for businesses having difficulty paying, commercial planning queries and buying industrial land or units.

See the scheme on the council's site

All of County Longford

Contact the LEADER team by email, phone or the online callback form to discuss eligibility and how to apply. County Longford has €5.823 million for the 2023 to 2027 programme. No call or closing date is published on the page.

Phone: 043 334 5555

LEADER on this group's site

All of County Longford

Its enterprise support is free.

Phone: 043 334 5555

Visit its website