Short answer: yes. For most Irish small businesses the route is Digital for Business first, which is free, then the Grow Digital Voucher for up to €5,000 at 50% co-funding. Enterprise Ireland clients have separate and larger options. The order matters more than the amounts.
This question comes up constantly and it rarely gets answered plainly, because the schemes have similar names, sit with different agencies, and changed recently. Here is the whole picture in one place.
One caveat before the detail. Scheme values and eligibility change, sometimes mid-year. Everything below reflects the position as we understand it in 2026, and you should confirm current figures with the awarding agency before planning around a number.
The main route for small businesses
Digital for Business
FreeNot a cash grant. It is a funded consultancy programme where an approved consultant reviews how your business runs and produces a written report recommending where digital and AI investment would actually pay back, in what order.
It costs the business nothing, and it carries a real value because the consultant is paid by the LEO rather than by you. For a business that knows it should be doing something but cannot yet say what, the report is often worth more than money would be.
Grow Digital Voucher
Up to €5,000The main cash grant, replacing the old Trading Online Voucher. It covers 50% of eligible costs up to €5,000, and analytics software including AI systems is explicitly on the eligible list, alongside CRM, e-commerce, job management, stock control and cyber security.
It funds software subscriptions plus the expert setup, integration and training that goes with them. You can apply for up to two projects, but the combined grant is still capped at €5,000.
If you are an Enterprise Ireland client
Different system, larger sums, and a higher bar on what your application needs to demonstrate.
Digital Discovery
Up to €5,000Funds an expert consultant to establish digital foundations or take first steps into AI, at up to 80% of cost. The output is a strategic roadmap covering the next 12 to 18 months.
Generally aimed at Enterprise Ireland clients in manufacturing or internationally traded services, which is a much narrower group than LEO supports.
Digital Process Innovation
SubstantialFor embedding digital technologies across a business at a scale well beyond a software subscription. Amounts are significant and so is the definition expected in the application.
If you are a first-time applicant with a general sense that AI might help, this is not your starting point. Come back when you have a scoped project and a clear business case.
Other routes worth knowing about
| Route | Who it is for |
|---|---|
| R&D tax credit Raised to 35% in Budget 2026, with the first-year refund threshold increased to €87,500 | Businesses doing genuine development work |
| Údarás na Gaeltachta Its own enterprise supports | Gaeltacht businesses |
| Fáilte Ireland Sector-specific digital supports | Tourism businesses |
| InterTradeIreland Cross-border innovation supports | Businesses trading north and south |
The R&D credit is the one most commonly overlooked, and it is worth a conversation with your accountant. It is a tax credit rather than a grant, so it works differently, but for a business genuinely developing something new it can be the larger number.
The order to do it in
For the overwhelming majority of Irish small businesses, this is the sequence.
- Ring your Local Enterprise Office. Not a form, a phone call. There are 31 of them and they are the first port of call for any business under 50 people.
- Apply for Digital for Business. It is free, and the report is a prerequisite for the voucher. Nothing else can start until this is done.
- Get quotes against the report's recommendations. Not before. The voucher project should line up with what the report says.
- Apply for the Grow Digital Voucher, then wait. Do not order anything and do not start any work until you hear back.
- Implement, pay, then claim. The grant is a rebate. You incur the cost first.
The mistake that disqualifies people
Most grants only cover future costs. Your application has to be submitted before any expenditure is incurred and before any project activity begins. Not before the invoice. Before the work.
If you have already ordered the software, signed the contract or asked someone to make a start, the awarding body can reasonably conclude the project was going ahead regardless of funding. That is called deadweight, and it makes the project ineligible.
Quotes are fine. Planning is fine. Starting is not.
Check where you stand in 60 seconds
Our free checker walks the official Grow Digital Voucher criteria in six questions and tells you exactly what, if anything, is blocking you. Nothing stored, no signup.
Open the checkerWhat you cannot use the money for
Worth knowing before you scope anything, because this catches people who assume a digital grant funds anything digital.
- Custom or bespoke software. The Grow Digital Voucher funds off-the-shelf products only
- Bespoke website development. Website software subscriptions are eligible; building you a custom site is not
- Extra licences for software you already run. It has to be new to the business
- Consultancy with no software attached. An assessment on its own does not qualify, though it produces the plan that supports an application
- Anything beyond a one-year subscription term
- Systems whose purpose is regulatory compliance
What agencies expect now
The bar has risen. A vague application saying you want to explore AI was once enough. Agencies now look for a specific use case, a measurable return, and evidence you have a delivery partner who can actually implement it.
That is not a reason to be discouraged. It is a reason to do the work before applying. A business that can say "this task takes 39 hours a month, this tool addresses it, here is the quote and here is what we expect to save" is in a much stronger position than one asking for money to investigate.
If you want the method for producing that kind of specificity yourself, it is written up here in full and it takes a notebook and about a week.
Arrive with the numbers already done
An AI Readiness Assessment quantifies where your recoverable time sits, names the specific tools worth buying with real prices, and produces a costed quote you can attach to an application. One week, €950, credited back in full if you appoint us to implement.
See how it worksCommon questions
Do I need to use an approved supplier?
For the Grow Digital Voucher, no. There is no approved supplier panel. You choose your own provider and submit their quote with your application. Digital for Business is different, as that consultancy is delivered by consultants contracted to the Local Enterprise Office.
Can I combine grants from different agencies?
Sometimes, and businesses do stack supports across a longer journey. A common path is a free Digital for Business assessment, then implementation funding, then an R&D tax credit where genuine development work is involved. What you cannot do is fund the same cost twice, so tell each agency what else you have applied for.
How long does the whole thing take?
Longer than people expect, mostly because Digital for Business has to happen first and consultant availability varies by office. Ask your LEO directly rather than working off a number from the internet, and start earlier than you think you need to.
My business is over 50 people. What now?
You are outside the Grow Digital Voucher, which is written for 1 to 50 employees. Depending on what you do, Enterprise Ireland supports may apply, and the R&D tax credit has no headcount limit. A conversation with your local office is still the right first step.
Is it worth it for a grant of a few thousand?
Usually yes, because the co-funding effectively halves a project you were going to do anyway. Where it is not worth it is if the grant is driving the project rather than the other way round. Funding the wrong thing competently is the most expensive mistake in this whole area.