Tipperary LEO second only to Dublin for gross and net job creation and performance

Tipperary Local Enterprise Office was only second to Dublin city as the highest performer on gross and net jobs created during 2022, councillors were told at the March meeting of Nenagh Municipal District Council.

This demonstrated the resilience and overall strength of the local economy, particularly in the areas of engineering support service companies supplying a very strong indigenous food sector and in life sciences in the southern part of the country, according to the report given by Elaine Cullinan of the council’s economic and development section.

The Evaluation and Approvals Committee evaluated and approved a total of €907,144 funding on 38 projects in 2022. 10 TAME grants for €15,640; eight Priming Grants for €210,179; five Feasibility Grants for €74,550; 12 Business Expansion Grants for €504,678; two Agile Innovation Grants approved for €73,347; GradStart Grant approved of €28,750.

Grant funding leveraged an investment of €3,829,082 into the county.

The main metrics for 2023 have now been set with a strategic focus on:

- Ongoing strategic alignment with Enterprise Ireland

- Focus on Businesses employing 10

- First Time Exporters

- Addressing the Productivity Challenge

- Digital Transformation

- Micro Enterprise Green Strategy.

“We will continue to work with our client base of 283 companies focusing on first time exporters and supporting them on their journey,” the report stated.

There will also be going promotion of programmes such as Green Start and Digital for Micro.

The results demonstrate a very strong performance for the Local Enterprise Office in what was a very challenging year for start-up and established businesses, said the report.

The report shows that the LEO exceeded its metric on the number of companies receiving Measure 1 funding for small capital and employment grants.

The poorest result was under the Green4Micro metric where the office was 65% below target.