COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF LUCAN / PALMERSTOWN / NORTH CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
MOTION NO.13
MOTION: Councillor H. Farrell
To request the Manager to provide, if possible, a report detailing the number of small business start-ups and closures in the Lucan, Palmerstown, and North Clondalkin (LPNC) area from 2024 to the present. Ideally, the report should also specify the sectors these businesses belonged to and identify current and potential SWOT's for existing businesses in the area.
REPORT:
Thank you for your request regarding small business start-ups and closures within the Lucan, Palmerstown, and North Clondalkin (LPNC) area from 2024 to the present.
The Local Enterprise Office (LEO) South Dublin does not maintain a record of all business start-ups and closures across the county, as this data is not centrally tracked at local authority level.
However, we can confirm that under our core grant schemes — that is Feasibility, Priming, and Business Expansion grants, that there have been 14 approvals to date in 2025, of with 21% of these applications originated from the LPNC area. In 2024, there were 37 approved applications, 22% of which came from this area.
In addition to our grant supports, we also delivered 126 mentor assignments in the LPNC area in 2024. To date in 2025, we have already completed 103 mentor assignments. We also offer a wide range of training programmes tailored to all sectors.
Local Enterprise Offices can offer:
- Financial grants and supports to help businesses establish or grow
- Advice on funding opportunities and state supports
- Information on local services and compliance requirements
- Programmes to support business efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness
- Training for new and existing small business owners
- Mentor programmes
Full details on all our supports are available on Local Enterprise Office Dublin South and individual or business owners who are interested in specific supports or have particular needs, are encouraged to send their enquiry into info@leo.sdublincoco.ie, where a member of our team will be happy to assist and direct them to the most appropriate supports available.
In response to the broader enterprise development issue raised, South Dublin County Council is actively progressing the creation of a new Economic Strategy aimed at shaping the county’s economic future over the next 20 years. Building on the foundations of the Council’s development plan, this strategy will serve as a practical and implementable roadmap, setting out clear goals, strategic recommendations, and a robust monitoring and evaluation framework to support economic growth across all areas and all sectors.
Following a tender process, OCO Global has been appointed to lead the development of this comprehensive strategy. OCO Global are specialists in economic development with a keen focus on internationalisation, providing end-to-end solutions from tailored strategic advisory to investment attraction and export acceleration.
OCO recommend a structured yet flexible programme of research strategy development through a 4-phased approach together with projected timeline is summarised as follows:-
Phase Completion Date:
Phase 0 Project inception April 2025
Objective: Establish finalised workplan, ways of working, determine key documentation and stakeholders.
Phase 1 Baseline Assessment June 2025
Objective: Establish a situational analysis of the current landscape in South Dublin County Council area.
2 Growth Capacity and Future Opportunities July 2025
Objective: Assess future opportunities and growth capacity for SDCC, identifying economic priorities and supportive environment needs.
- Future Priorities and Strategy Development September
Objective: Develop implementable strategy for SDCC with clear goals, recommendations September 2025
and monitoring and evaluation framework