COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, October 13, 2025

QUESTION NO. 15

QUESTION: Councillor J. Sinnott

To ask the Chief Executive how many small and medium enterprises in South Dublin availed of the €4,000 Power Up Grant in 2025?

REPLY:

The Power Up Grant was a €4,000 payment announced in Budget 2025 for eligible small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the hospitality, retail, and beauty sectors to help with rising costs, especially electricity. Funded by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and administered by local authorities, the grant required businesses to have received the second payment under the Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) scheme in order to qualify. 

South Dublin County Council began processing payments to small businesses under this scheme in December 2024 and completed payments in February 2025, a total of 1,208 small and medium sized businesses received this grant, totalling €4,832,000.

A Reclassification Appeal Process opened on the 24th July 2025 and closed on the 29th August 2025 for registrations. The Reclassification Appeal Process allowed businesses in the retail, hospitality and beauty sectors that misclassified their business during the initial ICOB registration period, an opportunity to amend their classification and register for those grants. South Dublin County Council have approved 125 businesses for this grant which will give a total of €500,000 in additional Power Up grants and €296,079 in additional ICOB 2 grants to businesses in the coming weeks.