The scheme was aimed at hospitality, retail and beauty sectors
Almost €5m granted in Power Up grant scheme
Almost €5 million was provided to local businesses in South Dublin under a new grant introduced by the Government last year.
1,208 small and medium businesses availed of the €4,000 grant provided under this scheme, totaling €4,832,000.
The Power Up grant was announced in Budget 2025 and was provided to small and medium enterprises in the hospitality, retail and beauty sectors.
€170 million was set aside in the Budget that year to be given to businesses under this grant.
The grant is intended to help businesses in these sectors deal with rising costs, especially electricity.
The grant was funded by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and administered by local authorities.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Peter Burke TD thanked local authorities for their help when announcing the grant: “I want to thank the Local Authorities for their tremendous work in administering these grants on behalf of my department.
“They are the closest arm of the state to many of our businesses and have direct links into businesses at a local level.”
It required businesses to have received the second payment under the Increased Cost of Business scheme in order to qualify.
The ICOB scheme was a pre-existing grant scheme from the previous budget that allowed businesses of small and medium size to deal with the same issues the Power Up grant was brought in to tackle.
Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail Emer Higgins TD noted that the ICOB and Power Up schemes added up to almost half a billion euro in the “government’s direct support into small businesses.”
South Dublin County Council began processing payments to small businesses who successfully applied for the Power Up grant in December 2024 and completed payments in February 2025.
Businesses who did not classify their business properly during the initial ICOB registration period had the opportunity to reapply earlier this year.
The reclassification appeal process allowed the businesses to make amends to their applications and register for these grants.
Appeals were accepted from July 24 to August 29 and saw 125 more businesses become eligible to receive the once-off payments.
A total of €500,000 in additional Power Up grants will be paid to small and medium enterprises, while €296,709 in further ICOB 2 grants is set to be provided also.
These further grant payments will be paid out to the successful applicants in the coming weeks.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
