Minister Pat Breen T.D welcomed the EU decision on 11 July to award Ireland’s Northern and Western Region as European Entrepreneurial Region 2018. The counties involved are Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Sligo, Roscommon, Leitrim, Monaghan and Cavan.

Minister Breen met with local businesses and entrepreneurs on his visit to the Local Enterprise Office in Galway and emphasised the importance of start-ups and small business to the rural economy. The EER project identifies and rewards EU regions and cities that show a remarkable and innovative entrepreneurial policy strategy regardless of their size, wealth and competences.

The action plan is based on the 10 principles of the EU Small Business Act identifying few remaining gaps and listing steps, targets and deliverables to be achieved during the EER year 2018. It includes innovative actions, such as capitalising on the National Ploughing Championship – Europe's biggest agricultural exhibition – to promote entrepreneurship in rural areas, or targeting Irish emigrants through an awareness raising campaign implemented in the regional airport.

Minister Breen commented: “This award is a tangible demonstration of the fact that entrepreneurship and the appetite for more start-ups in Galway and the surrounding counties is alive and well. It is also a testament that the LEOs – working with other agencies and organisations – are central to delivering on the ambition of helping people to help themselves, building a culture of entrepreneurship and enterprise, delivering jobs in every county in Ireland.”

Find out more about the project here.