Accelerated Recovery Fund

PLEASE NOTE: This financial product is now closed to new applications. Please contact your Development Adviser for alternative supports.

Accelerate Your Recovery

Overview

The Accelerated Recovery Fund is a new fund designed to provide support to Irish companies seeking to adapt their operations and business models in order to remain competitive and return to growth following the effects of the pandemic.

The fund supports eligible companies seeking to achieve an accelerated recovery underpinned by capital investment and/or adoption of a new, more digital approach to deliver enhanced sustainability.

Capital Investment Benefits

  • An increase in productivity can be driven by the introduction of new capital equipment as businesses recover from the impact of Covid-19.
  • Investment in equipment and processes can help reduce your carbon footprint and lower operating costs. Furthermore, it demonstrates to both investors and customers a commitment to a net zero carbon future, potentially making your business a more attractive proposition.

Digital Capabilities Benefits

  • Advances in digital technologies, and the shift to increased digitalisation accelerated by Covid-19, is shaping new ways of working and revolutionising business practices.
  • Successful implementation of digital practices across all aspects of business operations delivers competitive advantage in customer experience, internal operations, employee satisfaction and business model innovation.
  • Investing in digital capabilities supports productivity growth and innovation in goods and services across the value chain.

Description of funding

  • Under this fund, eligible companies can apply for support for the implementation of an Accelerated Recovery Plan. The minimum eligible expenditure to support the implementation of the business plan is €150k. The maximum support that can be approved by Enterprise Ireland is €1.8 million per undertaking.
  • Eligible costs will need to be detailed within the Accelerated Project Plan, and must fall under at least one of the following categories:
    • Capital costs;
    • Implementation costs (covering consultancy and salaries);
    • Training costs.

Am I eligible?

The Accelerated Recovery Fund is open to companies that operate within the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors which:

  • employed 10 or more full time employees on their payroll on the 29th of February 2020; or
  • employed 10 full time employees at the time of application.

The fund is open to manufacturing and internationally traded services companies. Funding must be approved and drawn down before 31st December, 2021.

In order to be eligible for funding, companies must:

  • Have experienced, or be projected to experience, a 15% or more reduction in actual or projected turnover or profit as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. The reduction in turnover or profit of 15% or more, compares a quarter in 2019 (pre-Covid) to the same quarter in either 2020 or 2021.
  • Have had a significant increase in operational costs as a result of Covid-19.
  • Not have been Undertakings in Difficulty at 31st December 2019 and at the date of application, as provided for in State aid law. An exception to this is micro and small undertakings (i.e. undertakings with fewer than 50 employees and less than €10m of annual turnover and/or balance sheet value) provided that at the moment of providing the support, they are not subject to collective insolvency procedure under national law.

If you are not a client of Enterprise Ireland and employ fewer than 10 employees, you should contact your Local Enterprise Office.

Who cannot apply?

Companies which fall under the following criteria are ineligible to apply for the Accelerated Recovery Fund:

  • Medium and large undertakings (i.e. those that don’t have fewer than 50 employees and less than €10m of annual turnover and/or Balance Sheet value) which fall under the category of an Undertaking in Difficulty both on 31st December 2019 and on their date of application;
  • Medium and large undertakings that became Undertakings in Difficulty after 31st December 2019 for reasons not related to Covid-19 and remain Undertaking in Difficulty;
  • Companies which do not meet the eligibility criteria as outlined in the Am I Eligible? section above;
  • Companies which will not meet minimum eligible expenditure of €150,000;
  • Are operating in the coal or steel sector;
  • Are active in the primary agricultural, fishery or aquaculture sectors;
  • Are covered by specific rules for Financial Services;
  • Are involved in activities which Enterprise Ireland considers as ineligible or as involving an unacceptable reputational risk, including:
    • The gambling sector, including ‘gaming’ (as defined in the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956);
    • Adult entertainment;
    • Tobacco and tobacco related products;
    • Cannabis-based products which are not authorised as medicines.

Closing Date for receipt of Applications in Enterprise Ireland

The Accelerated Recovery Fund is subject to budget availability under the Temporary Aid Framework up to the end of 2021.

The September call has now closed.

The final date for receipt of applications for the October Call is 15th October 2021.

Additional calls will depend on funding availability.

How do I apply?

For information on how to apply please get in touch with your Development Adviser.