Local Enterprise Office Sligo
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 Sligo office can and cannot fund.
Local Enterprise Office Sligo
- Address
- City Hall, Quay Street, Sligo, F91 PP44
- Phone
- 071 9144779
- localenterprise@sligococo.ie
- Website
- localenterprise.ie/Sligo
- How to apply
- Contact the office first. The office does not publish a grant application form or portal. Its advice is to do basic market research, contact the office to meet a member of the team, and write a business plan. Its monthly one-hour Business Advice Clinics are for people with a new product or business idea.
- Dates to know
- Next Start Your Own Business Programme on the booking page: from 4 November 2026
No 2026 grant closing dates or committee dates 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 Sligo County Council offers
We found no shop front, streetscape or paint grant from Sligo County Council for 2026.
A grant of 100% of the rates at the end of year 1, 80% at the end of year 2, 60% in year 3, 40% in year 4 and 20% in year 5. The years follow the calendar year, so a business that starts mid-year gets a pro rata share in year 1.
A new business that has not traded in the county in the previous 12 months, a business relocating or expanding from outside the county, or an existing business opening a new location. The premises must be an existing rated commercial property vacant for at least 12 months, with a yearly rates bill of no more than €30,000, and the business must not compete with existing ones in the same town or area. Takeaways, arcades, betting offices, nightclubs, discount stores, vape shops, pop-up shops, off-licences and charity shops are among those excluded. You must pay your rates by 31 December each year or lose the whole incentive.
Apply online, before you start trading, with evidence of the vacancy, of ownership or your lease and occupation, a Section 11 form, planning permission for the use, tax clearance and an agreement to pay rates by standing order or EFT. The council says it gives its decision within 2 weeks of getting all the documents. General queries go to 071 911 1111.
Open. The council's page says the scheme has run since 1 January 2023 and is reviewed every year. The current application form is dated 2025, and no closing date is published.
5% off if at least 95% of the year's rates is paid by 31 July, or 2.5% off if at least 97.5% is paid by 30 September
Owners or lessees occupying a premises with a yearly rates bill under €10,000, with no arrears of rates or other council charges.
No application. The discount is applied automatically once the council receives your payment by the date.
Both payment dates for 2026 have passed. The scheme runs each year.
Run by Sligo BID in partnership with the council and funded through the national Night Time Economy pilot. It paid up to 90% of the cost of new evening events in Sligo town after 6pm, Sunday to Thursday, with grants of €500 to €1,000 from a €10,000 fund. Local businesses could apply. The 2026 call closed on 27 March 2026.
A tax relief for refurbishing or converting property in Sligo town's Special Regeneration Area, including shops and other commercial property. Works must cost at least €5,000, relief for commercial property is capped at €300,000 per business over three years, and works must be done before 31 December 2030. The council's page has the area map.
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 Sligo
LEADER pays grants to rural businesses and community groups. In Sligo it is delivered by one local group, and their staff help you put an application together.
County Sligo. Office at the Hanson Building, Doorly Park, Sligo, with outreach offices in Sligo town and Ballymote
Contact the Rural Development Team first for an expression of interest form, by phone or at leader@sligoleader.com. No closing date is published.
Phone: 071 9141138
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.
County Sligo. Office at the Hanson Building, Doorly Park, Sligo, with outreach offices in Sligo town and Ballymote
Phone: 071 9141138
Also in Sligo
- Sligo 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).
Good to know in Sligo
Local Enterprise Office Sligo lists exactly who cannot get its Feasibility, Priming and Business Expansion grants: retail, including restaurants, cafes and mobile food outlets, personal services such as hairdressers and beauticians, professional services, trades and construction, and accommodation projects. For eligible firms, the Feasibility Grant covers 60% of costs up to €15,000, and Priming and Business Expansion grants cover up to 50%, with grants over €80,000 only in exceptional cases.
Sligo's five-year rates grant for reopening an empty unit lasts five years: 100% back in year 1, then 80%, 60%, 40% and 20%. The premises must have been vacant for at least 12 months and the yearly rates bill must be €30,000 or less. Apply before you start trading. Separately, any ratepayer with a bill under €10,000 gets 5% off for paying by 31 July, or 2.5% for paying by 30 September.
LEADER money for rural County Sligo is delivered by County Sligo LEADER Partnership, with Sligo County Council as financial partner. Businesses can get up to 75% of the cost of capital equipment and marketing, to a maximum of €200,000, and up to 90% of feasibility and development costs, to €30,000. You must put in at least 5% in cash, and because grants are paid after you spend, you need bridging finance.
Sligo town is one of nine pilot areas in the national Night Time Economy programme, and its evening events grant, run with Sligo BID, paid €500 to €1,000 in 2026. Enterprise Ireland's New Frontiers programme for start-up founders runs at the Innovation Centre on the Sligo campus of Atlantic Technological University. Sligo is one of the seven counties covered by the Western Development Commission.
What every business in Sligo can apply for
- Microfinance Ireland loans for Sligo 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 Sligo: keep your welfare payment for two years while you start a business.
- the Short-Term Enterprise Allowance in Sligo: the same idea for people on Jobseeker's Benefit.
- the Grow Digital Voucher through the Sligo office: half the cost of software and digital tools for small businesses.
- the Energy Efficiency Grant for Sligo firms: help with the cost of cutting your energy bills.
- the Wage Subsidy Scheme for Sligo 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 Sligo? 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 Sligo?
It is in City Hall, Quay Street, Sligo, F91 PP44. It is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Phone 071 9144779 or email localenterprise@sligococo.ie.
Can a shop or cafe in Sligo get a LEO grant?
Not the main cash grants. The Feasibility, Priming and Business Expansion grants from LEO Sligo are for manufacturing and internationally traded services businesses with up to 10 employees, and its eligibility page names retail, restaurants, cafes and mobile food outlets as ineligible. 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 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 Sligo County Council give grants to businesses?
Yes, through rates. Its Commercial Rates Incentive Scheme pays back 100% of the rates in year 1, then 80%, 60%, 40% and 20%, for a new business in a premises vacant for at least 12 months, where the rates bill is €30,000 or less. Smaller ratepayers, with bills under €10,000, get 5% off for paying by 31 July or 2.5% by 30 September. We found no shop front grant for 2026.
Who helps with a Back to Work Enterprise Allowance business plan in Sligo?
County Sligo LEADER Partnership (071 9141138). It says it helps start-ups write their business plan, and people applying for the allowance can do its one-day Start Your Own Business training. You start with an Employment Personal Adviser at Intreo, who assesses your suitability and refers you, and you must not start trading until the Department of Social Protection approves you in writing.
Is LEADER funding open in Sligo?
County Sligo LEADER Partnership asks you to contact its Rural Development Team for an expression of interest form, on 071 9141138 or leader@sligoleader.com, and no closing date is published. Capital, equipment and marketing projects can get up to 75% of the cost, to €200,000. Conventional retail is not eligible.
Where this comes from
- Local Enterprise Office Sligo, contact page
- Local Enterprise Office Sligo, eligibility criteria for Feasibility, Priming and Business Expansion grants
- Local Enterprise Office Sligo, Priming Grant
- Local Enterprise Office Sligo, Feasibility/Innovation Grant
- Local Enterprise Office Sligo, Business Expansion Grant
- Local Enterprise Office Sligo, FAQs
- Local Enterprise Office Sligo, Business Advice Clinics
- Local Enterprise Office Sligo, our services
- Local Enterprise Offices, Grow Digital Voucher
- Local Enterprise Offices, Energy Efficiency Grant
- Sligo County Council, Commercial Rates Incentive Scheme
- Sligo County Council, commercial rates
- Sligo County Council, grants
- Sligo County Council, Living City Initiative scheme information
- Sligo BID, Night Time Economy Enrichment and Diversification Grant 2026
- gov.ie, LEADER Local Action Groups and implementing partners 2023 to 2027
- County Sligo LEADER Partnership, LEADER programme 2023 to 2027
- County Sligo LEADER Partnership, enterprise funding
- County Sligo LEADER Partnership, business advice and mentoring
- County Sligo LEADER Partnership, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance
- gov.ie, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance
- Western Development Commission, about us (the seven western counties)
- 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.