Commission approves Irish support scheme for SMEs in difficulty

Further information:

Under the scheme, which runs until 2020, Enterprise Ireland, an Irish Government Agency responsible for supporting businesses, is entitled to offer restructuring support to small and medium sized companies (SMEs) in financial difficulty. It aims to avoid situations where value-creating and viable SMEs, with the potential to restore their competitiveness, are prevented from accessing finance from credit markets.

Ireland notified its plans to set up the scheme on 31 October 2017. The Commission assessed the scheme under the 2014 Guidelines on rescue and restructuring. It argues that the scheme helps SMEs in financial difficulty restore their competitiveness, whilst preserving competition in the EU's Single Market. It is therefore compatible with EU State aid rules.

The European Commission announced on 30 November 2017 it had found a €10 million aid scheme to facilitate the restructuring of SMEs in Ireland to be in line with EU State aid rules.