Tell parents about skills shortage on campaign trail - head of enterprise

Local councillors were advised to mention the skills shortage in Co Cavan to parents of students sitting this year’s Leaving Cert while out on the campaign trail, following a discussion on business supports that are available from the Local Enterprise Office (LEO), during this week’s Bailieborough-Cootehill Municipal district meeting in Kingscourt.

A presentation on what Cavan LEO has to offer small businesses in the county was made to the meeting by the LEO's head of enterprise, Conor Craven, who pointed out that, while there has been much discussion in recent years about high inflation and energy costs, LEO can now assist businesses with “saving money, time and energy”.

He highlighted, for example, the free Green for Business programme, which is avaialble to businesses trading for six months or more, have an annual turnover of at least €30,000 and have between one and 50 employees. "[It] provides increased cost savings, improves resource efficiency, reduces environmental footprint and increases resilience to climate change impacts,” said Mr Craven.

“It’s a free programme. LEO can provide a consultant to a business and the only cost to the business owner is their time. Following completion of the Green for Business audit, the company may apply for a grant under the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) or they can apply for an energy efficiency grant through their LEO," he continued.

Introduced by the Government as a pilot measure in 2023, grants for up to 50% of expenditure or a maximum of €5,000 are available.

Meanwhile, the meeting heard that the measure for businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors was increased to €8,000, which means they can now apply for up to 75% of the costs. Benefits under the scheme include electricity meters; gas, water and steam; insulation; smart energy controls such as heating, lighting and cooling; automatic on/off systems; upgrading lighting to LED; and equipment including fridge or dishwasher replacement.

Mr Craven also pointed to the Lean for Business initiative, which focuses on improving productivity.

“This is about doing things quicker, safer and better and the average savings for a business is about €25,000 - something that can make the difference between a company staying in business or going to the wall," outlined the business advisor.

Additional supports offered by LEO include mentoring. Also, a free programme, it’s designed to match up the knowledge, skills, insights and entrepreneurial capability of experienced business practitioners or business owners/managers who need practical one-to-one advice or guidance.

“We do pre-start up and scale up for more established businesses,” continued Mr Craven. “Areas covered include business strategy, financial planning, market research, marketing, distribution, website planning, HR and other corporate governance issues."

The trading online voucher scheme, introduced during Covid, is also continuing. It assists businesses to engage in more online trading to boost their sales and reach new markets.

“We provide assistance of up to €2,500 or 50% - whichever is lower - to have the business trading online. Eligibility includes trading for at least six months, have a turnover of less than €2M annually and have 10 or less employees," said Mr Craven.

“We still provide start up grants for businesses in the first 18 months of initiation. That covers salary costs of €15,000 for a full-time employee, consultancy and marketing costs, a year’s rental costs as well as other operational benefits. The business expansion grant is also available to companies trading for over 18 months and that want to expand their export potential,” he listed off.

He went on to encourage those out canvassing for seats in June’s Local Elections who come across entrepreneurs whoneed support to “tell them about what Cavan LEO had available to them”.

“We have a dedicated staff member who will visit the business and fill out the application for the business there and then,” Mr Craven added.

“So there is no time wasting or anything like that. We also have a serious skills shortage in the county at the moment. So if you are talking to parents while out on the campaign trail, tell them that we need plumbers, welders and electricians.

There is great work being done in this area by Cavan Monaghan Education and Training Board (CMETB) in this whole area particularly with regard to the new skills centre that has been established on the Dublin Road in Cavan Town. One of the challenges for all of us will be the transition to decarbonisation and digitalisation. We have to embrace it and if we don’t, we are going to lose jobs.”