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 9 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.

In addition, the division develops Ireland’s position on EU state aid policy, including providing support and advice across government on state aid matters.

The division is organised across 5 business units led at principal officer level with strong collaboration given the interlinkages between the work of the units.

Assistant Secretary: Dermot Mulligan

Assistant Secretary’s Personal Assistant: Anthony Barrett

Email: anthony.barrett@enterprise.gov.ie

Units

  • Entrepreneurship and Small Business
  • Enterprise Ireland Liaison Unit
  • Regional Enterprise Plans, Funding and Infrastructure
  • Retail and Locally Traded Enterprise
  • State Aid and Finance for Enterprise

Main contact points

Unit/Area of responsibility

Contact point

Entrepreneurship and Small Business

Ross Church, Principal Officer

Tel: +353 1 631 2164

Email: ross.church@enterprise.gov.ie

Enterprise Ireland Liaison

Karen Hynes, Principal Officer

Tel: + 353 1 631 2144

Email: karen.hynes@enterprise.gov.ie       

Regional Enterprise Plans, Funding and Infrastructure

Jonathan Patchell, Principal Officer

Email: jonathan.patchell@enterprise.gov.ie

Retail and Locally Traded Enterprise

Brian Walsh, Principal Officer

Email: brian.walsh@enterprise.gov.ie 

Retail Section:

Email: retail@enterprise.gov.ie

Locally Traded Enterprise Section:

Email: lte@enterprise.gov.ie

Business Schemes Statistics Section:

Email: supportstats@enterprise.gov.ie

State Aid and Finance for Enterprise 

Sabha Greene

Email: sabha.greene@enterprise.gov.ie

SME Test

Patrick Sinnott, Assistant Principal

Tel: + 353 1 631 2175

Email: patrick.sinnott@enterprise.gov.ie