Local Enterprise Office Roscommon
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 Roscommon office can and cannot fund.
Local Enterprise Office Roscommon
- Address
- Roscommon County Council, Áras an Chontae, Civic Offices, Roscommon Town, Co. Roscommon, F42 VR98
- Phone
- 090 6637100
- localenterprise@roscommoncoco.ie
- Website
- localenterprise.ie/Roscommon
- How to apply
- Contact the office first, then an application form. The office asks you to contact it first, and it assesses whether your business is eligible before you apply. Applications are considered case by case by an Evaluation and Approvals Committee that meets regularly, and costs you run up before you apply are not eligible. The easiest first step is a free 20 to 25 minute introductory call through one of its remote Business Advisory Clinics. 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 Roscommon County Council offers
We found no shop front, streetscape or paint grant from the council for 2026.
A reduction in the year's rates of 100% in year 1, 80% in year 2, 60% in year 3, 40% in year 4 and 20% in year 5. The scheme works on calendar years, so a business that opens mid-year gets a share of the first year's reduction. In the council's example, a business paying €3,000 a year that opens on 1 April saves €8,250 over five years.
New businesses that have not traded in County Roscommon in the previous 12 months, opening in an existing rated premises that has been vacant for at least 12 months. The yearly rates bill must be €30,000 or less, the business must not be able to displace another business within 5km, and there can be no rates or council charges owed on the premises. You must own or lease the premises and trade from it, hold tax clearance, and pay each year's remaining rates by 31 December or lose the whole incentive. Fast food takeaways, amusement arcades, betting offices, nightclubs, private members' clubs, head shops and money lenders are excluded.
Fill in the application form in the scheme document and send it to the Rates Section, Áras an Chontae, Roscommon, with evidence that the unit was vacant, proof of ownership and occupation, a Section 32 form for the premises, evidence of planning permission and your tax clearance certificate. The council advises applying before you start trading, and it aims to decide within two weeks of getting all the documents.
Open. The scheme has run since 2016, and the council's adopted budget for 2026 says it will continue to operate in 2026. It says 34 new businesses have used it so far.
5% off the year's rates bill
Businesses with a yearly rates bill of €5,000 or less that pay at least 95% of the bill by 30 June, with no arrears or other council charges owed. You must own or lease the premises and trade from it.
There is no application. The 5% is applied automatically once 95% of the bill has reached the council by 30 June. You can pay online through the council's QuickPay portal, by card over the phone on 090 6637108 or 090 6632555, or by bank transfer.
The 2026 deadline of 30 June has passed. The council's 2026 budget says 559 businesses got the discount in 2025.
Adopted by the council in June 2025, it is designed to shield ratepayers with bills under €20,000 from rate increases, by allowing a margin of up to 5% between them and larger ratepayers. The 2026 budget raised rates by 5%, and the council says that because of the scheme the rise affects only 4% of its ratepayers. There is nothing to apply for.
The council's rates forms page has a Rates Vacancy Form for owners of empty commercial property. In June 2025 its Director of Finance told councillors that vacant commercial properties were getting a 100% write-off of their rates. Ask the rates office (090 6632555 or rates@roscommoncoco.ie) what applies in 2026.
What would the council take off your rates?
Pick the council and put in the yearly rates bill for the premises.
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LEADER funding in Roscommon
LEADER pays grants to rural businesses and community groups. In Roscommon it is delivered by one local group, and their staff help you put an application together.
All of County Roscommon
Taking expressions of interest. Email the form to leader@ridc.ie, or contact a project officer first to talk about your idea. If it is eligible in principle, you are invited to make a full application. Private businesses can get up to 75% of an investment project, to a maximum of €200,000, and no grant under €5,000 is approved.
Phone: 090 6630252
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 Roscommon, from several offices around the county
Phone: 090 6630252
Also in Roscommon
- Roscommon 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 Technological University of the Shannon, Athlone campus (Midlands Innovation and Research Centre).
Good to know in Roscommon
Local Enterprise Office Roscommon works from the county council offices in Roscommon town. Its remote Business Advisory Clinics give Roscommon businesses a free 20 to 25 minute call with an adviser, by phone or Zoom, and the next dates are 8 and 22 October and 5 November 2026. It also lists more than 20 remote working spaces in the county, from the Arbutus Innovation Centre in Monksland to the Spool Factory in Boyle and The Cube on the Lanesborough Road in Roscommon town.
Roscommon County Council's five-year rates incentive for opening in an empty Roscommon unit runs for five years: 100%, 80%, 60%, 40% and 20% off, for premises vacant for 12 months with a rates bill of €30,000 or less. Smaller businesses with bills of €5,000 or less get 5% off automatically when they pay 95% by 30 June. The rate on valuation for 2026 is €0.248.
Roscommon LEADER Partnership runs LEADER funding for Roscommon projects and also handles the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance and the Short-Term Enterprise Allowance with the Department of Social Protection. The Roscommon County Development Fund, a charity linked to it, says it may be able to help allowance clients, social enterprises and community groups that cannot get a loan from the banks, Clann Credo or the Western Development Commission. It publishes no loan terms.
Roscommon is in the Western Development Commission's region, and the commission has staff based in the county. Its investment fund for Roscommon businesses usually lends €50,000 to €300,000 at commercial rates. Enterprise Ireland's New Frontiers programme runs nearby at the Athlone campus of the Technological University of the Shannon.
What every business in Roscommon can apply for
- Microfinance Ireland loans for Roscommon 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 Roscommon: keep your welfare payment for two years while you start a business.
- the Short-Term Enterprise Allowance in Roscommon: the same idea for people on Jobseeker's Benefit.
- the Grow Digital Voucher through the Roscommon office: half the cost of software and digital tools for small businesses.
- the Energy Efficiency Grant for Roscommon firms: help with the cost of cutting your energy bills.
- the Wage Subsidy Scheme for Roscommon 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 Roscommon? 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 Roscommon town?
Local Enterprise Office Roscommon is in Roscommon County Council's offices at Áras an Chontae, Roscommon Town, F42 VR98. It is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and closes for lunch from 1pm to 2pm. Phone 090 6637100 or email localenterprise@roscommoncoco.ie.
Can a shop or cafe in Roscommon get a LEO grant?
Not the main cash grants. The Feasibility, Priming and Business Expansion grants in Roscommon give priority to manufacturing and internationally traded services businesses with up to 10 staff, and the office says they do not support retail, personal services such as hairdressers, professional services or local building services. 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). Mentoring, training and a Microfinance Ireland loan are the other options.
Does Roscommon County Council give grants to businesses?
Yes, through commercial rates. A new business opening in a premises that has been vacant for 12 months, with a rates bill of €30,000 or less, can get 100%, 80%, 60%, 40% and 20% off its rates over five years, and the council says the scheme continues in 2026. Businesses with bills of €5,000 or less get 5% off if 95% is paid by 30 June. The council says its Small Business Support Waiver Scheme means the 5% rates rise in 2026 affects only 4% of ratepayers. We found no shop front grant.
Who helps with a Back to Work Enterprise Allowance business plan in Roscommon?
Roscommon LEADER Partnership, which administers the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance and the Short-Term Enterprise Allowance with the Department of Social Protection. Your business must be approved in writing, in advance, by the Department and the Partnership before you start trading. Phone 090 6630252. The council's Local Enterprise Office also runs a free remote workshop on how to investigate a business idea.
Is LEADER funding open in Roscommon?
Roscommon LEADER Partnership takes expressions of interest by email at leader@ridc.ie, and you can ask a project officer for a meeting first. A business can get up to 75% of the cost of an investment project, to a maximum of €200,000, and the smallest grant approved is €5,000. LEADER is paid after you have spent the money, so you need bridging finance, and nothing you start before the letter of offer is eligible.
Where this comes from
- Local Enterprise Office Roscommon, contact page
- Local Enterprise Office Roscommon, Evaluation Committee
- Local Enterprise Office Roscommon, eligibility criteria
- Local Enterprise Office Roscommon, Priming Grant
- Local Enterprise Office Roscommon, financial supports brochure (PDF)
- Local Enterprise Office Roscommon, Business Advisory Clinic, 8 October 2026
- Local Enterprise Office Roscommon, How to Investigate a Business Idea, 8 October 2026
- Local Enterprise Office Roscommon, remote working spaces in County Roscommon
- Local Enterprise Offices, Grow Digital Voucher
- Local Enterprise Offices, Energy Efficiency Grant
- Roscommon County Council, Rates Incentive Scheme
- Roscommon County Council, Commercial Rates Incentive Scheme and application form (PDF)
- Roscommon County Council, Adopted Budget 2026 (PDF)
- Roscommon County Council, notice of the levying of rates
- Roscommon County Council, rates forms and publications
- Roscommon County Council, pay your council rates
- Roscommon County Council, adoption of the Small Business Support Waiver Scheme (minutes, 23 June 2025)
- Roscommon LEADER Partnership, LEADER Programme
- Roscommon LEADER Partnership, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance
- Roscommon LEADER Partnership, contact details
- Roscommon LEADER Partnership, Roscommon County Development Fund news (January 2026)
- gov.ie, LEADER Local Action Groups and implementing partners 2023 to 2027
- gov.ie, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance
- Western Development Commission, investment funds
- Western Development Commission, business investment
- New Frontiers, Technological University of the Shannon Athlone 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.