Business supports by county

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

Local Enterprise Office Meath is in Buvinda House on the Dublin Road in Navan, and it asks you to fill in an online Business Proposition Form before any grant application. Its own pages say cafes, pubs, restaurants, hairdressers, trades, shops and tourism businesses cannot get its grants, so this page also covers what Meath County Council offers.

Checked against the official sources on 3 October 2026.

Local Enterprise Office Meath

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 Meath office can and cannot fund.

Local Enterprise Office Meath

Address
Buvinda House, Dublin Road, Navan, Co. Meath, C15 Y291
Phone
046 9097000
Email
localenterprise@meathcoco.ie
Website
localenterprise.ie/Meath
How to apply
Online portal. Start with the Business Proposition Form on the office's online portal. The office uses it to see whether your project might qualify for grant aid, and one of its business advisers then gets in touch. We found no published 2026 closing dates or committee dates.
Courses
Start Your Own Business courses and other training
Checker

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What Meath County Council offers

Shopfront Improvement and Age Friendly Grant 2026

50% of the eligible cost, up to €5,000 before VAT

Independently owned businesses that are already trading on the main streets of towns and villages in County Meath, with no commercial rates owed to the council or a payment plan in place. It pays for painting, signage, lighting, new doors and windows, repairs to the front and work that makes the business easier to get into. It does not pay for work done before you applied, structural repairs, roofing, or security features such as CCTV and shutters.

Online application on the council's portal, with a colour photo of the front, two contractor quotes or one materials quote (three quotes for contracts over €5,000), the owner's written permission if you rent, a tax clearance certificate and proof that your rates are paid. Work can only start once you have countersigned the council's Letter of Offer. Cash payments to contractors are not allowed, and the grant is paid when the work is finished and the receipts are in. Queries go to the Economic Development Department on 046 9097065 or economic@meathcoco.ie.

Closed. The 2026 round ran from 17 April to 31 May 2026, and approved work has to be finished with receipts sent in by 30 October 2026.

See the scheme on the council's site

Rates incentive for vacant premises: none found for 2026

We found no 2026 rates incentive for opening in a vacant premises. The council's Economic Regeneration Scheme page is still online and describes reduced rates for three years in a previously vacant town or village centre unit, but its only terms are for 2023 (75%, 50% and 25% off, closing 31 December 2023) and its application link no longer opens a scheme.

Business Support Scheme 2026

The whole increase between your 2025 and 2026 rates bills, so you pay no more than you did in 2025

Businesses occupying rated property in County Meath that were liable for rates in both 2025 and 2026, with a 2026 bill of €22,100 or less. If you have more than one property, the bills are added together and you qualify only once. You must pay the value of your 2025 bill, including any arrears, by 31 July 2026. On a direct debit or standing order that started before 8 April 2026, the deadline is 9 December 2026.

You do not apply. Once the conditions are met, the council posts the grant as a credit to your rates account in December 2026. Queries go to ratesfinance@meathcoco.ie.

Running for 2026. The eligibility check happens after 9 December 2026.

See the scheme on the council's site

Drogheda Nurture Fund

Not a council grant. It is a loan fund paid for by Louth and Meath County Councils through their Local Enterprise Offices, and run by the Louth County Enterprise Fund. Businesses inside the Drogheda Implementation Board's target area, which covers Drogheda and the Laytown-Bettystown area, can borrow up to €25,000, repaid over 3 to 5 years at 7% a year. You start with a short expression of interest form that includes your Eircode.

See the scheme on the council's site

Help before a planning application

The council's Economic Development Team works with the planning department and will talk through your business proposal before you arrange a pre-planning meeting with a council planner. A pre-planning meeting does not bind the council to any later decision. Contact economic@meathcoco.ie or 046 909 7065.

See the scheme on the council's site

LEADER funding in Meath

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

Meath Partnership, for the Meath Local Action Group

Rural County Meath. The office is in Kells Business Park.

Takes expressions of interest through an online form. If your project fits, a Project Officer works with you on a full application. The 2026 targeted call for digital connectivity, for community organisations only, closed on 18 June 2026.

Phone: 046 928 0790 (extension 215)

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.

Meath Partnership

The whole county. Its SICAP programme supports people who are long-term unemployed or in jobless households to move into employment or self-employment. Office at Units J and K, Kells Business Park, Cavan Road, Kells

Phone: 046 9280790

Visit its website

Also in Meath

  • Meath has a Gaeltacht area. Businesses there deal with Údarás na Gaeltachta, which has its own grants, instead of the Local Enterprise Office for some supports.
  • The nearest New Frontiers programme for early-stage founders is at Dundalk Institute of Technology (Regional Development Centre), run jointly with Dublin City University. Maynooth University (MaynoothWorks) also runs it and is closer to south Meath.

Good to know in Meath

Local Enterprise Office Meath does not list grant closing dates. You fill in its Business Proposition Form and an adviser contacts you about the right supports. Its grant pages are blunt about who is left out: retail and wholesale, professional services, tourism businesses, and local services such as restaurants, pubs, cafes, plumbers, hairdressers and builders. Vans and cars are not funded either. For a new business, the office runs a six-week Start Your Own Business programme on two evenings or two mornings a week.

Meath's rates support for small ratepayers works differently from most councils. If your 2026 bill is €22,100 or less, the Business Support Scheme covers the whole rise over your 2025 bill, so you pay no more than last year. There is no form to fill in. The credit goes on your account in December 2026, as long as you paid the 2025 amount by 31 July 2026, or by 9 December 2026 on a direct debit or standing order set up before 8 April. We found no 2026 rates incentive for opening in a vacant unit.

The Meath shopfront and age friendly grant paid 50% of the cost, up to €5,000 before VAT, to independent businesses on the main streets of Meath towns and villages. The 2026 round closed on 31 May 2026, and approved work must be finished by 30 October 2026. The council says successful businesses can also take free Business Recognition Training under the National Age Friendly Initiative.

Meath Partnership in Kells delivers LEADER grants in rural Meath for the Meath Local Action Group, with a project budget of €4 million for 2023 to 2027. A business can get 75% of the cost of a capital project, up to €200,000, and nothing started before the contract is signed can be funded. Ráth Chairn and Baile Ghib, near Athboy, make up the smallest Gaeltacht in the country, and Údarás na Gaeltachta supports businesses there.

What every business in Meath can apply for

Paid service: business plan pack, €99

We can write the business plan for your allowance application

Starting a business in Meath? 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 Meath?

Local Enterprise Office Meath is in Buvinda House, Dublin Road, Navan, C15 Y291, the same building as the council's rates office. It is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Phone 046 9097000 or email localenterprise@meathcoco.ie.

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

Not the main cash grants. Meath's Feasibility, Priming and Business Expansion money is for manufacturing and internationally traded services businesses with up to 10 employees, and the office's own pages name restaurants, pubs, cafes, hairdressers, retail and tourism businesses as not eligible. 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). Mentoring, training and a Microfinance Ireland loan through the office are also open to it.

Does Meath County Council give grants to businesses?

Yes, but the main ones in 2026 are tied to rates and shopfronts. The Business Support Scheme cancels the 2026 rates increase for bills of €22,100 or less, with no application needed, if you pay on time. The Shopfront Improvement and Age Friendly Grant paid half the cost of work on a shopfront, up to €5,000, but the 2026 round closed on 31 May. We found no 2026 rates incentive for a new business in a vacant unit.

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

Meath Partnership covers the whole county from Kells (046 9280790). Its SICAP programme gives one-to-one, confidential support to people who are long-term unemployed or in jobless households who want to move into work or self-employment. Local Enterprise Office Meath also runs a six-week Start Your Own Business programme. You start with an Employment Personal Adviser at your Intreo Centre, who refers you to the local development company for help with the plan. A Deciding Officer in the Department of Social Protection makes the decision on the allowance.

Is LEADER funding open in Meath?

You can send an expression of interest at any time on Meath Partnership's online form, and a Project Officer works with you on a full application if the project fits. The 2026 call for digital connectivity was only for community organisations and closed on 18 June 2026. Capital projects get up to 75% of the cost, to a maximum of €200,000. Phone the LEADER team on 046 928 0790, extension 215, or email leader@meathpartnership.ie.

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.