Local Enterprise Office Monaghan
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 Monaghan office can and cannot fund.
Local Enterprise Office Monaghan
- Address
- Unit 9, M:TEK Building, Knockaconny, Monaghan, H18 ET82
- Phone
- 047 71818
- info@leo.monaghancoco.ie
- Website
- localenterprise.ie/Monaghan
- How to apply
- Online portal: a Grant Expression of Interest form first. Read the eligibility criteria, then fill in the online Grant Expression of Interest form, which is not itself a grant application. The office says a member of its team will be in touch within 10 working days to confirm whether you can apply. Full applications are assessed by an evaluation committee that makes recommendations to the office. 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.
This tool needs JavaScript switched on in your browser.
What Monaghan County Council offers
80% of eligible costs, to a maximum of €8,000 per building: up to €500 for planting at entrances, €3,500 for painting, repairs and decluttering, and €4,000 for lighting and new traditional or contemporary signage. If you do the work yourself, 100% of the materials can be recouped
Owners or tenants of commercial, residential or unoccupied buildings in the designated area of Main Street, Carrickmacross. A tenant needs the owner's written consent, and commercial rates must be paid up to date or covered by an agreed payment plan.
Application form to the council's Community Development Section with a sketch of the changes and colour scheme from the council's palette, colour photographs, written quotes (one under €5,000, three at €5,000 or more) and your tax clearance number. Applications were taken first come, first served, and no work could start before written approval. The work must be finished by 27 November 2026, and the grant is paid after an inspection, on paid invoices and proof of payment.
Closed. The council's announcement gives the closing date as 4pm on 17 July 2026, and an earlier version of the booklet said 15 May 2026.
Funded under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme. Changes to a shopfront may need planning permission, so the council advises talking to its Planning Section first. We found no county-wide shop front grant.
100% of rates waived for the first 12 months of trading, up to a maximum of €10,000. A bigger bill gets €10,000 off. Full rates, pro rata, are due after the 12 months.
A newly established business, a business relocating or expanding from outside County Monaghan, or an existing business expanding into a second location, opening in a commercially rated property that has been vacant for at least 12 months. You must own or lease the premises, and nothing can be owed to the council on the premises or by you, including the 20% vacancy charge. You must pay rates by standing order or direct debit for at least 12 months after the waiver. A business can use the scheme once in five years, unless it is expanding into another vacant property.
Apply on the council's online form and complete the Application for Waiver of Rates form (WRF), with evidence of the efforts made to let the property and your lease or Land Registry entry. Tell the rate collector early, as the property may need to be inspected.
Open. The scheme started on 5 January 2026 and no closing date is published. A business already approved keeps its waiver if the scheme changes during its 12 months.
We found no early payment discount or rebate for small ratepayers on the council's finance pages, and a search of them for discounts returned nothing.
Since 1 January 2023, vacant commercial properties in County Monaghan pay 20% of their rates, where before they had a full refund. To qualify, the property must be vacant to let at a reasonable rent, for repairs, or pending redevelopment, and you need a letting agent's letter, adverts and photographs of a to-let sign. The council inspects properties, and full rates apply if one is found in use.
A free programme for customer-facing businesses in the Monaghan town area. You nominate an Age Friendly Champion, who does a short online course and a workshop, and the business makes three changes. Businesses that finish get accreditation and a window sticker and are listed on the Age Friendly Ireland website. Contact the Age Friendly Programme Manager on 086 3134557.
The council's Shop Local page links to a County Monaghan Gift Card and town voucher schemes in Castleblayney, Carrickmacross and Ballybay, which keep spending in local businesses. It says there is no town voucher scheme in Clones at present.
What would the council take off your rates?
Pick the council and put in the yearly rates bill for the premises.
This tool needs JavaScript switched on in your browser.
LEADER funding in Monaghan
LEADER pays grants to rural businesses and community groups. In Monaghan it is delivered by one local group, and their staff help you put an application together.
All of County Monaghan
Open. Phone the office to talk through your idea, or fill in the online expression of interest form. If the idea is eligible in principle, the team supports you to make a full application.
Phone: 042 974 9500
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 Monaghan. Offices at Drumillard Business Park in Castleblayney, North Road in Monaghan town (047 72191) and the Farney Workhouse on the Shercock Road in Carrickmacross (042 9664051)
Phone: 042 974 9500
Also in Monaghan
- The nearest New Frontiers programme for early-stage founders is at Dundalk Institute of Technology (Regional Development Centre), which runs the programme for the Border and mid-east region with Dublin City University.
Good to know in Monaghan
Local Enterprise Office Monaghan is in the M:TEK Building at Knockaconny, Monaghan. Its online Grant Expression of Interest form comes first, and the team replies within 10 working days. Its eligibility rules name restaurants, cafes and mobile food outlets among the businesses it cannot grant aid. The next Start Your Own Business course runs online over six evenings from 9 November 2026 and costs €30.
Monaghan County Council's 12-month rates waiver for new Monaghan businesses in vacant units takes 100% off the first year's rates, up to €10,000, for a premises vacant for at least 12 months. It started on 5 January 2026. We found no early payment discount. Owners of empty commercial property have paid 20% of their rates since 2023.
In Carrickmacross, the Main Street frontage grant in Carrickmacross paid 80% of the cost of painting, signage, lighting and planting, up to €8,000 per building. Applications closed in July 2026 and approved work must be finished by 27 November 2026.
Monaghan Integrated Development, based in Castleblayney, is the Local Action Group for LEADER grants across County Monaghan, with an online expression of interest form. Its Enterprise Support Service gives one-to-one confidential help to unemployed people who want to explore self-employment and apply for the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance.
What every business in Monaghan can apply for
- Microfinance Ireland loans for Monaghan 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 Monaghan: keep your welfare payment for two years while you start a business.
- the Short-Term Enterprise Allowance in Monaghan: the same idea for people on Jobseeker's Benefit.
- the Grow Digital Voucher through the Monaghan office: half the cost of software and digital tools for small businesses.
- the Energy Efficiency Grant for Monaghan firms: help with the cost of cutting your energy bills.
- the Wage Subsidy Scheme for Monaghan 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 Monaghan? 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 Monaghan?
Local Enterprise Office Monaghan is at Unit 9, M:TEK Building, Knockaconny, Monaghan, H18 ET82. It is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Phone 047 71818 or email info@leo.monaghancoco.ie.
Can a shop or cafe in Monaghan get a LEO grant?
Usually no. The cash grants from the Monaghan office are for businesses with 10 or fewer full-time staff, mainly in manufacturing or internationally traded services, and its eligibility page lists retail, including restaurants, cafes and mobile food outlets, as ineligible. It says other ventures started by people who were long-term unemployed or made redundant, or by women returning to work, can be supported if they do not simply take trade from existing businesses. 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). Training, mentoring and a Microfinance Ireland loan are the other options.
Does Monaghan County Council give grants to businesses?
Yes. Its Rates Waiver Scheme 2026 takes 100% off the first 12 months of rates, up to €10,000, for a new business in a premises that has been vacant for at least 12 months. In Carrickmacross, the Building Frontages Enhancement Scheme paid 80% of the cost of improving Main Street frontages, up to €8,000, but applications closed in July 2026. We found no early payment discount on rates.
Who helps with a Back to Work Enterprise Allowance business plan in Monaghan?
Monaghan Integrated Development. Its Enterprise Support Service helps unemployed people explore a business idea, find enterprise training and apply for the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance, with offices in Castleblayney, Monaghan town and Carrickmacross. Phone 042 974 9500. Your Employment Personal Adviser at Intreo assesses you first and refers you.
Is LEADER funding open in Monaghan?
Yes. Monaghan Integrated Development says the 2023 to 2027 programme has opened for the county. Ring 042 974 9500 to talk through your idea, or fill in the expression of interest form online, by email to LEADER@midl.ie or by post. If your idea is eligible in principle, the team helps you make a full application.
Where this comes from
- Local Enterprise Office Monaghan, contact page
- Local Enterprise Office Monaghan, eligibility criteria
- Local Enterprise Office Monaghan, Grant Expression of Interest form
- Local Enterprise Office Monaghan, Evaluation Committee
- Local Enterprise Office Monaghan, Start Your Own Business, November 2026
- Local Enterprise Offices, Grow Digital Voucher
- Local Enterprise Offices, Energy Efficiency Grant
- Monaghan County Council, Rates Waiver Scheme 2026
- Monaghan County Council, rates advice
- Monaghan County Council, annual rate on valuation and vacant property
- Monaghan County Council, Building Frontages Enhancement Scheme, Main Street, Carrickmacross
- Monaghan County Council, BFES scheme information booklet
- Monaghan County Council, grants
- Monaghan County Council, Age Friendly Business Recognition Programme
- Monaghan County Council, Shop Local
- Monaghan Integrated Development, LEADER
- Monaghan Integrated Development, SICAP and enterprise support
- Monaghan Integrated Development, contact details
- gov.ie, LEADER Local Action Groups and implementing partners 2023 to 2027
- gov.ie, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance
- New Frontiers, Dundalk Institute of Technology
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.