Who We Are

Indigenous Enterprise Division

The primary role of the Indigenous Enterprise Division is to support indigenous enterprise across all regions in Ireland.

We do this by ensuring there are appropriate policies and necessary assistance in place across all regions of our country to promote and develop entrepreneurship and to help business to start, scale and export. 

Working with Enterprise Ireland, the 31 Local Enterprise Offices and the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland, and nine Regional Enterprise Plan Steering Committees we seek to ensure supports are aligned to meet evolving business needs to adapt to global challenges and opportunities, in particular climate change and digitalisation.

We engage with business stakeholders to fully understand the needs of indigenous enterprise and seek to influence relevant policies across government to take account of those needs. In particular we engage with relevant stakeholders to increase the resilience and productivity of employment intensive retail and locally traded sectors in Ireland.

The division is organised across four business units led at principal officer level with strong collaboration given the interlinkages between the work of the units.

Assistant Secretary: Pauline Mulligan

Assistant Secretary’s Personal Assistant: Alessandro Medeiros E Silva

Email: alessandro.medeirosesilva@enterprise.gov.ie

Units of Indigenous Enterprise Division

  • Entrepreneurship and Small Business
  • Enterprise Ireland Liaison Unit
  • Regional Enterprise Plans and Initiatives Unit
  • Retail and Locally Traded Enterprise Unit

Main contact points

Unit/Area of responsibility

Contact point

Entrepreneurship and Small Business

Karen Hynes, Principal Officer
Tel: + 353 1 631 2144
Email: karen.hynes@enterprise.gov.ie

Patrick Sinnott, Assistant Principal
Tel: + 353 1 631 2175
Email: patrick.sinnott@enterprise.gov.ie

Michael Clifford, Assistant Principal
Tel: +353 1 631 2195
Email: michael.clifford@enterprise.gov.ie

Laura Byrne, Higher Executive Officer
Tel: + 353 1 631 2473
Email: laura.byrne@enterprise.gov.ie

Donal O’Sullivan, Higher Executive Officer
Tel: +353 1 631 2307
Email: donal.osullivan@enterprise.gov.ie

Enterprise Ireland 

Thomas Murray, Principal Officer
Email: thomas.murray@enterprise.gov.ie

David O'Connor, Assistant Principal
Email: david.j.oconnor@enterprise.gov.ie 

Gary Ward, Assistant Principal
Email: gary.ward@enterprise.gov.ie  

Ciaran Farrell, Higher Executive Officer 
Email: ciaran.farrell@enterprise.gov.ie

Mary Delaney, Higher Executive Officer 
Email: mary.delaney@enterprise.gov.ie        

Regional Enterprise Plans

Sinead Ryan, Assistant Principal
Email: sinead.ryan@enterprise.gov.ie

Michael Martin, Assistant Principal
Email: michael.martin@enterprise.gov.ie

Annmarie St John, Higher Executive Officer
Email: annmarie.stjohn@enterprise.gov.ie 

Paul McMorrow, Higher Executive Officer
Email: paul.mcmorrow@enterprise.gov.ie

Regional Enterprise Funding

Colm O’Neill, Assistant Principal 
Tel: + 353 1 631 2032
Email: colm.oneill@enterprise.gov.ie

Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce

Email: shannontaskforce@enterprise.gov.ie

John Watters, Assistant Principal
Email: john.watters@enterprise.gov.ie

Retail and Locally Traded Enterprise

Maedhbh Cronin, Principal Officer
Email: maedhbh.cronin@enterprise.gov.ie 

Retail Section:

Email: retail@enterprise.gov.ie

Sandra Mullen, Higher Executive Officer
Tel: +353 1 631 2106
Email: sandra.mullen@enterprise.gov.ie

Niamh Martin, Higher Executive Officer
Tel: +353 1 631 2210
Email: niamh.martin@enterprise.gov.ie

Locally Traded Enterprise Section:

Email: lte@enterprise.gov.ie

Mary Cullen, Assistant Principal
Tel: +353 1 631 2482
Email: mary.cullen@enterprise.gov.ie

Susan McNamee, Higher Executive Officer
Tel: +353 1 631 2323
Email: susan.a.mcnamee@enterprise.gov.ie

Business Schemes Statistics Section:

Email: supportstats@enterprise.gov.ie

Stephen Bonnlander, Assistant Principal
Tel: +353 1 631 2213
Email: stephen.bonnlander@enterprise.gov.ie

Marie McMahon, Higher Executive Officer
Email: marie.mcmahon@enterprise.gov.ie

Small Business, Advisory Group on Small Business, SME EU Envoy

Karen Hynes, Principal Officer
Tel: + 353 1 631 2144
Email: karen.hynes@enterprise.gov.ie

Supporting SMEs Online Tool and SME Test

Laura Byrne, Higher Executive Officer
Tel: + 353 1 631 2473
Email: laura.byrne@enterprise.gov.ie