The Trading Online Voucher closed to new applications at 5pm on 13 December 2024. If you were hoping to get €2,500 towards a website from your Local Enterprise Office, that door has shut. Plenty of pages online still haven’t noticed.
Something did replace it. The Grow Digital Voucher opened in September 2024 and pays up to €5,000, but it works differently. It pays for software, not for a website someone builds for you. Every rule here comes from the Local Enterprise Offices’ own pages and the Department of Enterprise.
Is the Trading Online Voucher still available in 2026?
No. The national Local Enterprise Office page for the scheme still carries the notice that it would “close for applications on the 13th December 2024 at 5pm”, and the county offices took it out of their menus after that. LEO Monaghan told businesses it was “the FINAL opportunity for small businesses to avail of this grant”.
In September 2024 the Department of Enterprise announced that “the new Grow Digital Voucher replaces the previous Trading Online Voucher”. There is no sign of a new round, and nothing in Budget 2026 brought it back.
If a website today offers you a “trading online voucher”, check it with your Local Enterprise Office before you sign anything. The LEOs were the only ones who ever ran it.
What the Trading Online Voucher paid for
For anyone comparing old advice with new, here is what the scheme was.
- Amount: up to €2,500, with the business paying the other 50%. LEO Cork North and West put it as the lesser of €2,500 or half the eligible spend, before VAT.
- Who could apply: businesses with 10 or fewer employees, turnover under €2 million, trading for at least six months, with little or no ecommerce.
- What it covered: ecommerce website development, online payments and booking, apps, a digital marketing strategy, training, some online advertising (no more than 30% of the costs) and a capped amount of photography.
- What it didn’t: brochure websites, software that wasn’t for trading online, and your own time.
- How it worked: an information webinar first, quotes from suppliers (LEO Cork North and West asked for three), approval, then six months to do the work and claim the money back against paid invoices.
You may remember it paying 90%. It did, briefly. That was a COVID measure for applications between 7 April and 30 September 2020, after which it went back to 50%.
The Grow Digital Voucher replaced it
The Grow Digital Voucher opened on 4 September 2024 and runs through the same Local Enterprise Offices. It is bigger, and open to bigger businesses. It also has a narrower idea of what counts as going digital.
| Trading Online Voucher | Grow Digital Voucher | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Closed 13 December 2024 | Open |
| Most you can get | €2,500 | €5,000 in total |
| Share it pays | 50% | 50%, at least €500 |
| Business size | Up to 10 employees | 1 to 50 paid employees |
| Trading for | 6 months | 6 months |
| Step before you apply | An information webinar | A Digital for Business project in the last two years |
| Pays for | Ecommerce websites, booking, apps, digital marketing, training | New off-the-shelf software subscriptions, set-up and training |
| A website built for you | Yes, if it sold online | No: custom website development is excluded |
| How many | Two in a business’s lifetime | Two projects, €5,000 between them |
Our full guide to the Grow Digital Voucher covers eligibility, the Digital for Business step and the application in detail.
Can the Grow Digital Voucher pay for a website?
Only in one narrow way. The LEO’s list of what it funds includes ecommerce software and “Website Development” as new, off-the-shelf software subscriptions, for up to a year. In the same breath it says it “does not support bespoke website development”.
In practice that means a subscription to a platform, the set-up and the training to run it can qualify. A website designed and built for you, the thing the Trading Online Voucher used to pay for, can’t.
We build websites, so we’d love to tell you otherwise. We won’t, because an application built on the wrong assumption wastes weeks. Ask your Local Enterprise Office about your exact plan before you get quotes.
Is there any website grant in Ireland now?
Not one like the old voucher for a typical small business. Here is what’s left, honestly.
- The Grow Digital Voucher, for software you subscribe to, as above.
- Mentoring from your Local Enterprise Office. Its topics include website planning and design, so you can get expert eyes on a plan before you spend.
- Tourism businesses can look at Fáilte Ireland’s programme, covered in our guide to Digital that Delivers.
- Enterprise Ireland clients have their own digital grants, including support for digital marketing capability through the Digital Transition Fund. Most small local businesses aren’t Enterprise Ireland clients.
Our round-up of small business grants in Ireland lists every grant that is open in 2026, with who qualifies for each.
If you are pricing a site without a grant, the website cost calculator gives an Irish price line by line, and our guide to what a website costs in Ireland shows what each budget buys.
How to apply for the Grow Digital Voucher
The order matters. Get it wrong and the form won’t save you.
- Check you qualify: 1 to 50 paid employees, trading for six months, in your Local Enterprise Office’s area, not an Enterprise Ireland or IDA client, and tax compliant.
- Do a Digital for Business project with your Local Enterprise Office, if you haven’t in the last two years. You can’t apply without one.
- Choose the software the project points you to, and get the costs.
- Talk to your Local Enterprise Office, then apply. The application has to go in before you order, commit to or start any part of the project.
- Pay for the subscription, then claim. The grant is paid after you’ve paid.
Can I get a second Trading Online Voucher?
Not any more. While the scheme ran, a business could hold two in its lifetime, and only after the final claim on the first.
The Grow Digital Voucher has a similar rule: up to two projects, but €5,000 is the total across both, not €5,000 each.
Questions about the Trading Online Voucher
When did the Trading Online Voucher close?
At 5pm on 13 December 2024, according to the national Local Enterprise Office page. Some older pages give other dates; that is the one the LEOs published.
What replaced the Trading Online Voucher?
The Grow Digital Voucher, which opened on 4 September 2024. It pays 50% of new off-the-shelf software, set-up and training, from €500 to €5,000 in total.
How much was the Trading Online Voucher?
Up to €2,500, matched 50% by the business. It was 90% only for applications between 7 April and 30 September 2020.
Can I still get €2,500 for a website?
Not from a Local Enterprise Office voucher. The Grow Digital Voucher rules out a website designed and built for you, though a website or ecommerce platform bought as a software subscription can qualify.
Who do I contact about the Grow Digital Voucher?
The Local Enterprise Office for the area your business operates in. There are 31, and each only takes applications from its own area.
Sources
Checked in September 2026: the Local Enterprise Office pages for the Trading Online Voucher Scheme and the Grow Digital Voucher and who is eligible, the Department of Enterprise announcement of 19 September 2024, LEO Cork North and West’s closing notice, and LEO Galway on the 2020 expansion. Schemes change, so confirm the details with your Local Enterprise Office before you apply.
