Local Enterprise Office Wicklow
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 Wicklow office can and cannot fund.
Local Enterprise Office Wicklow
- Address
- Wicklow County Campus, Clermont House, Rathnew, Co. Wicklow, A67 X566
- Phone
- 0404 30800
- enterprise@leo.wicklowcoco.ie
- Website
- localenterprise.ie/Wicklow
- How to apply
- PDF application forms, given out after a meeting with a business adviser. Phone or email the office first and book a slot at its weekly online business advice clinic, where an adviser checks whether your project is eligible. If it is, you are given the Feasibility, Priming or Business Expansion form and told which documents to send. An executive then meets you about the application before it goes to the Evaluation and Approvals Committee, which meets about six times a year.
- Dates to know
- Evaluation and Approvals Committee meeting: Wednesday 4 November 2026. Its document deadline, 30 September 2026, has passed
Deadline to submit all documents for the last committee of 2026: Wednesday 4 November 2026
Last Evaluation and Approvals Committee meeting of 2026: Wednesday 9 December 2026 - 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 Wicklow County Council offers
We found no shop front, streetscape or paint grant for 2026 on the council's website, on its five Municipal District pages or in its Chief Executive's report for March 2026.
A grant on commercial rates of 50% in year 1 and 25% in year 2. Full rates are due from year 3. The council's 2026 example is a bill of €11,200, cut by €5,600 in year 1 and by €2,800 in year 2.
A newly established business, a business relocating or expanding into County Wicklow from outside the county, or an existing business that keeps its current premises and opens in a new location. The unit must be a rated shop, office, commercial or industrial premises that has been vacant for at least 12 calendar months, with a yearly rates bill of no more than €20,000. You must own or lease it, the use must match its planning permission, and no rates or other council charges can be owed on the premises or by you. Fast food outlets, arcades, bookmakers, nightclubs, private members' clubs, head shops and money lenders are excluded, though the council can allow them where there is a specific local need. The council also looks at whether your business would take trade from existing firms.
Download the application form, in Word or PDF, from the council's website and return it to the New Business Rates Incentive Scheme, Revenue Section, Wicklow County Council, County Buildings, Wicklow Town. Send evidence that the unit was vacant, your lease or Land Registry entry, evidence of planning permission or other consents for the use, and proof that your rates and council charges are paid. You must pay your rates by standing order for at least 12 months.
Open. The scheme has run since 1 January 2020 and the council's page gives 2026 examples. No closing date is published. Every award is at the council's discretion.
10% of your 2026 rates bill, up to a maximum of €650
Ratepayers in County Wicklow with a rates bill of €25,000 or less. You must have paid the 2026 bill in full by 30 June 2026, or signed up to pay by standing order, payment agreement or EFT and clear it in full by 31 October 2026. It applies only to the 2026 rate demand. Banks, credit unions and post offices are excluded.
No application is needed. The Rates section applies the discount to qualifying accounts. Queries go to your Revenue Collector, whose details are on your rate demand, or to rates@wicklowcoco.ie or 0404 20128.
Running for 2026. If you pay under a payment arrangement, the bill must be cleared by 31 October 2026.
If a commercial property is empty, you can apply for relief on its rates. Fill in the Vacancy Relief Application Form and send it to the council's Revenue Section, which considers each case. Guidelines come with the form. The form on the council's website is the 2025 version.
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 Wicklow
LEADER pays grants to rural businesses and community groups. In Wicklow it is delivered by one local group, and their staff help you put an application together.
County Wicklow. The programme is aimed at rural enterprises, farm families diversifying, community groups and voluntary organisations, and has €3.9 million to invest in the county from 2023 to 2027.
Open. You email an expression of interest form to info@wicklowpartnership.ie, and a LEADER Development Officer tells you whether the project is eligible and how to prepare an application. A targeted call for community climate action projects closed to expressions of interest on 22 December 2025.
Phone: 0402 20955
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.
The Arklow, Wicklow and Baltinglass Municipal Districts. Head office at Avoca River House, Bridgewater Centre, Arklow
Phone: 0402 20955
The Bray and Greystones Municipal Districts. Office at The Boulevard, Quinsborough Road, Bray
Phone: 01 205 0111 (enterprise team)
Also in Wicklow
- The nearest New Frontiers programme for early-stage founders is at Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dún Laoghaire (Media Cube), delivered jointly with NovaUCD.
Good to know in Wicklow
Local Enterprise Office Wicklow will not hand out a grant form until you have spoken to a business adviser. Its one-to-one clinics run online on Monday evenings at 6pm, 7pm or 8pm, and on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Phone 0404 30800 or email the office for a booking form, and give 24 hours' notice if you cannot make it, or a fee is charged. The last 2026 deadline for grant documents is Wednesday 4 November, for the committee on Wednesday 9 December.
Wicklow County Council runs two rates schemes. Wicklow's two-year rates grant for reopening an empty unit takes 50% off the bill in year one and 25% in year two, for a premises that has been vacant for 12 months and has a rates bill of €20,000 or less. The Small Business Support Grant takes 10%, up to €650, off the 2026 bill of any ratepayer owing €25,000 or less who pays on time, with no form to fill in. We found no shop front or paint grant from the council for 2026.
LEADER money for rural Wicklow projects is decided by the Wicklow Local Community Development Committee, and County Wicklow Partnership in Arklow handles the applications. Its handbook sets the grant for a private business at up to 50% of capital and equipment costs, to a maximum of €200,000, and up to 75% for studies and feasibility work, to a maximum of €30,000.
Help with a business plan for the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance depends on where you live. County Wicklow Partnership covers the Arklow, Wicklow and Baltinglass districts, and Bray and North Wicklow Area Partnership covers Bray and Greystones. Bray's enterprise officers help with market research, cash flow, break-even figures and the business plan, and continued help is available in the first two years of trading.
What every business in Wicklow can apply for
- Microfinance Ireland loans for Wicklow 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 Wicklow: keep your welfare payment for two years while you start a business.
- the Short-Term Enterprise Allowance in Wicklow: the same idea for people on Jobseeker's Benefit.
- the Grow Digital Voucher through the Wicklow office: half the cost of software and digital tools for small businesses.
- the Energy Efficiency Grant for Wicklow firms: help with the cost of cutting your energy bills.
- the Wage Subsidy Scheme for Wicklow 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 Wicklow? 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 Wicklow?
It is at Wicklow County Campus, Clermont House, Rathnew, Co. Wicklow, A67 X566. It is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm, and closed on public holidays. Phone 0404 30800 or email enterprise@leo.wicklowcoco.ie.
Can a shop or cafe in Wicklow get a LEO grant?
Not the main cash grants. The Feasibility, Priming and Expansion grants at the Wicklow office are for manufacturing and internationally traded services businesses with up to 10 employees, and the office's Priming Grant page says retail, personal services, professional services and local building services are 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, the council's two rates grants and a Microfinance Ireland loan are the other options.
Does Wicklow County Council give grants to businesses?
Yes, through commercial rates. The New Business Rates Incentive Scheme takes 50% off the rates in year one and 25% in year two for a business that opens in a unit vacant for at least 12 months, where the bill is €20,000 or less. The Small Business Support Grant takes 10%, up to €650, off the 2026 bill if it is €25,000 or less and paid on time, and it is applied without a form. We found no shop front or paint grant from the council for 2026.
Who helps with a Back to Work Enterprise Allowance business plan in Wicklow?
County Wicklow Partnership (0402 20955) covers the Arklow, Wicklow and Baltinglass districts and gives one-to-one, confidential help with a business idea, a business plan and the allowance application. Bray and North Wicklow Area Partnership (01 205 0111) covers Bray and Greystones and helps with the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance and the Short-Term Enterprise Allowance. Your Employment Personal Adviser at Intreo refers you, and the Department of Social Protection must approve the business in writing before you start trading.
Is LEADER funding open in Wicklow?
Yes. County Wicklow Partnership says the 2023 to 2027 programme is open and it is accepting applications from individuals, communities and enterprises. You start by emailing its expression of interest form to info@wicklowpartnership.ie, and a LEADER Development Officer tells you whether the project is eligible. Phone 0402 20955 to talk it through first.
Where this comes from
- Local Enterprise Office Wicklow, contact page
- Local Enterprise Office Wicklow, Evaluation Meeting Dates and Deadlines 2026
- Local Enterprise Office Wicklow, Priming Grant
- Local Enterprise Office Wicklow, Feasibility Grant
- Local Enterprise Office Wicklow, Business Expansion Grant
- Local Enterprise Office Wicklow, business advice clinics
- Local Enterprise Office Wicklow, FAQs about financial assistance
- Local Enterprise Office Wicklow, online bookings
- Local Enterprise Offices, Grow Digital Voucher
- Local Enterprise Offices, Energy Efficiency Grant
- Wicklow County Council, New Business Rates Incentive Scheme
- Wicklow County Council, New Business Rates Incentive Scheme application form (PDF)
- Wicklow County Council, Small Business Support Grant 2026
- Wicklow County Council, Vacancy Relief on Rates
- Wicklow County Council, commercial rates
- Wicklow County Council, financial supports for business
- County Wicklow Partnership, LEADER Rural Development Programme
- County Wicklow Partnership, 2023 to 2027 LEADER application guide (PDF)
- County Wicklow Partnership, LEADER call for proposals for community climate action
- County Wicklow Partnership, SICAP and support to start your own business
- County Wicklow Partnership, SICAP 2024 to 2028
- County Wicklow Partnership, contact details
- Bray and North Wicklow Area Partnership, enterprise supports
- Bray and North Wicklow Area Partnership, contact details
- gov.ie, LEADER Local Action Groups and implementing partners 2023 to 2027
- gov.ie, LEADER Local Action Groups contact details
- gov.ie, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance
- New Frontiers, Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dún Laoghaire
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.