asked the Minister for Education arising out of a reply to Parliamentary Question No. 96 of Thursday, 28 January 1988, if she will give a detailed analysis of the amount of money allocated to youth, sport and recreation in each county; and the name of the project to which the money has been granted in each case above.
Written Answers. - Youth Grants.
56.
Youth grants are allocated at a national level. Particulars of grants allocated under this heading from national lottery funds in 1987 are attached.
It is not possible at this stage to give details of allocations from lottery funds for 1988 other than those given in the Government announcement of 19 November 1987 a copy of which is being circulated in the Official Report.
The lottery is now expected to realise a profit of £35 million in 1987 and £36.5 million in 1988 — a total of £71.5 million over the two years period.
This tremendous performance is in no small measure due to the enthusiasm and imagination of the lottery company. It gives me great pleasure to pay tribute to you, Mr. Harvey, to your Board and to the lottery company personnel, supported by their agents throughout the country, for all that has been achieved.
The Government's decisions on the distribution of the £7 million lottery income initially expected for the year were announced last May. Since then, a further £9.5 million has been allocated to additional projects in the sports, youth, arts, health and Irish language sectors.
Today, the Government are announcing plans for spending a further £45 million as follows:
£26.3 million on sport youth and recreation; £8.0 million on arts and culture; £4.0 million on the Irish Language; £6.0 million on health; £0.7 million on projects associated with the Dublin Millenium; £10.0 million is being kept in reserve for the present for contingencies.
Detailed lists of the spending programmes in each area are attached. The allocations will assist a wide variety of projects throughout the length and breadth of the country. The main features are:—
Sport and Recreation
The government are going ahead with a National Sports Centre. £2.5 million is being set aside for a preliminary study to finalise the specifications of the centre and for the selection and acquisition of a site and other preliminary works. Further funds will be provided from the lottery in future years as required to complete the project.
Work will also proceed on three major sports facilities in Dublin to be developed in conjunction with the National Sports Centre. £100,000 will be used to complete a National Badminton Centre at Baldoyle while £200,000 will be used to upgrade the facilities at Morton Stadium. £300,000 is being allocated to commence the construction of a National Basketball Arena and Community Centre in Tallaght at an estimated cost of £2 million.
In addition, £3.4 million is being made available for the provision of sports facilities in towns throughout the country.
£10 million is being provided for grants to assist local and community efforts in the provision of sporting and recreational facilities and community amenities. The Minister for the Environment will allocate £6 million of this and the Minister for Education will be responsible for the other £4 million. Details of the projects to be assisted will be announced later.
Youth
£6 million is being allocated to youth projects. In particular, £4 million is being made available for a major community development initiative for young people at risk in urban and rural areas.
Arts and Culture
£8.0 million is being set aside for this purpose. £1.8 million goes to the Arts Council. £0.5 million has been allocated for the establishment of a Gallery of Modern Art at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Funds are also being provided for renovation works at the National Gallery and the National Museum and financial assistance will be given to the Abbey Theatre, the Cork Opera House and the Royal Hibernian Academy.
In addition grants will be given to theatres, galleries and arts centres across the country.
Irish Language
£4 million is being allocated for projects in the Irish language area. An Irish language centre is to be provided at University College Galway at a cost of £1 million. Siamsa Tire in Tralee will receive £0.7 million for the development of its facilities. £0.5 million is being allocated for a pilot project for Irish language television. Funds are also being made available for other cultural and community activities and for the promotion of the use of Irish in everyday life.
Health
£6 million is being allocated to the health area. Of this, £3.85 million is to be used to provide community based services for the handicapped, the elderly and for psychiatric patients. £1m is being provided for community information and development services. Funds will also be made available for AIDS prevention programmes and for services for children in need.
Today's announcements give the clearest possible indication of the Government's intention to use the proceeds of the national lottery in a way that will give maximum benefit to communities throughout the length and breadth of the country. In a very real sense of the word, all of us who support the national lottery are winners.
List of Sport, Youth and Recreation Projects to be Assisted from the National Lottery in 1987-1988.
Earlier this year the Government made a policy decision that henceforth the national lottery fund would provide all funding for sport and youth.
Youth, sport and recreation will be the main national lottery beneficiaries receiving a total of £26.3 million between now and the end of 1988.
The investment now being made in these areas will enable Ireland to move forward rapidly in the development of many facets of sport. It will ensure that in elite competition, Irish sports people will not be at a disadvantage when competing internationally and all Irish people will have far greater opportunities for participation in sporting and recreational activities.
Sport and Recreation
The sports and recreation funding will be expended as follows:
1. National Sports Centre: £2.5 million
The Government accepts the need for the provision of a National Sports Centre in Dublin which will facilitate the holding of international events to the required technical standards and with spectator capacity appropriate for major international championships.
This centre will also be capable of being used to meet the training needs of national and other squads for the recreational needs of the local community.
The centre will be built on a phased basis and will be funded entirely by the national lottery.
The initial £2.5 million will be used for a finalisation of specifications for the new centre; the identification and purchase of an appropriate site and the commissioning of the necessary design.
2. National Basketball/Community Centre, Tymon North, Tallaght, Dublin: £300,000
A national basketball/community centre will also be built on a phased basis. It will cost £2 million, £1 million of which will be provided from the national lottery fund. This will be matched on a pound for pound basis by funds raised by the Irish Basketball Association. The centre will receive £300,000 in 1988 to commence the project.
The centre will have seating for up to 5,000 people and will feature all modern technical sports equipment suitable for hosting major international competitions.
3. Two major sports projects in Dublin Area: £300,000
(a) Morton Stadium, Santry: £200,000
This funding will be used to build modern dressing rooms, showers and toilets which will facilitate the promotion of top class track and field competitions.
(b) Badminton Centre, Baldoyle: £100,000
This funding will be used to complete the transformation of a factory premises at Baldoyle into a modern Badmintom Centre. It will be used for elite competition and training and by the local community.
4. Regional Sports Centres: £3.4 million
A sum of £3.4 million is being made available in 1988 for the provision of regional centres throughout the country. This programme will include the major centres designated in the report of the National Sports Centre Committee, prepared under the auspices of Cospoir.
There will be five major sport centres at Galway, Waterford, Cork, Athlone and Limerick.
(a) Galway: £350,000
For the provision of a major multisports centre which will cater for indoor games and outdoor facilities, including a 400 metre synthetic running track.
(b) Waterford: £300,000
For the provision of a 400 metre synthetic running track to complement the large sports centre which has been built by Waterford Corporation at Kilbarry.
(c) Cork: £300,000
To include multi-purpose indoor facilities together with facilities for outdoor sports.
(d) Athlone: £300,000
To cater for indoor and outdoor sports facilities including water sports.
(e) Limerick: £250,000
For the provision of additional sports facilities at Thomond College, Limerick so that the designation of the college as a national coaching centre, as envisaged in the Report of the National Sports Centre Committee, can be facilitated.
The remaining £1.9m will be expended on local sports centres in the following areas:
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Donegal |
Wexford |
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Sligo |
Kilkenny |
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Ballina |
Naas |
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Castlebar |
Tullamore |
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Shannon |
Dundalk |
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Nenagh |
Monaghan |
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Killarney |
Longford |
5. Development of Community Sporting and Recreational Facilities £10 million.
A sum of £10 million is being made available to fund the provision by local authorities and voluntary bodies of local sports and recreational facilities and projects such as amenity and landscaping work designed to benefit the local environment. Projects will be assisted on a countrywide basis having regard to existing facilities, population and geographic factors. Special account will be taken of the need to enhance the historical recreational and amenity value of urban renewal areas designated under the Urban Renewal Act 1986 and Finance Act 1986, thereby contributing to the general effort to secure the renewal of the areas concerned.
A major objective of the programmes which will be administered by the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Education will be the promotion of youth employment. It will therefore, be a condition of the grant allocations that at least 50 per cent of the workforce will be under 25 years of age and that other local unemployed people should be employed as far as possible.
Initial allocations will be announced shortly.
6. Development of Sports Services: £1.395 million.
National Lottery funds totalling £1.395 million will be provided between now and the end of 1988 for the development of existing services throughout the sports spectrum. £110,000 will be provided immediately and £1.285 million in 1988.
This funding will include increased grant aid to national sports bodies for administration, coaching and participation in international competition and the provision of extra funding for Cospoir to develop programmes aimed at increasing participation in sport and recreation.
7. The Olympic Council of Ireland: £100,000
One hundred thousand pounds is now being made available to the Olympic Council of Ireland from the national lottery fund. This is in addition to the £275,000 it received from the national lottery this year. A further substantial allocation from the national lottery's funds will be made to the Olympic Council of Ireland early in 1988 following consultation between the Minister for Youth and Sport and the Olympic Council of Ireland.
8. New Sports Projects: £2.055 million
The funding will be expended as follows:
(a) Staffing and management of Outdoor Education Centres £400,000
For the first time adequate funding is being provided by the national lottery to run the outdoor education centres operated by Vocational Education Committees throughout the country. This funding will make attractive outdoor pursuits available to both Ireland's young people and young visitors from abroad.
(b) Establishment of an Irish Coaching Bureau: £60,000
The Irish Coaching Bureau will improve the overall level of coaching and is seen as a co-ordinating structure to assist national sports organisations in the coaching area.
(c) The introduction of an Action Sports Programme in deprived areas: £500,000
Action Sport is a community-based programme aimed at increasing sport and leisure activity among the young unemployed, retired people and housewives in the disadvantaged urban areas. The programme for which it is intended will be introduced in the deprived urban areas of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford and will be organised by Vocational Educational Committees in consultation with Cospoir.
(d) Commercial Development of Sport: £500,000
The national development of sport involves the promotion and development of various sports and outdoor pursuits as attractive, marketable products, capable of satisfying foreign tourist demand. The intention is to select suitable sports such as angling, golf and shooting and to develop existing facilities through the provision of small grants.
(e) Better use of recreational facilities: £75,000
This programme will be designed to ensure the maximum utilisation of community centres, sports halls, school sport facilities and swimming pools.
(f) Sports Research: £20,000
The development of sport in Ireland is constrained by a lack of research and these funds are being provided to conduct research into the key areas of sport.
(g) Special Grants for National Sports Governing Bodies: £500,000
Special grants will be made available to national governing bodies of sports for the development of "sport for all" and the provision of sporting opportunities in deprived areas.
9. Dublin Zoo: £250,000
This allocation is to assist in securing the financial position of Dublin Zoo.
Youth
The impact of the new projects on the quality and effectiveness of the youth service for which £6 million is being made available will be profound. They will allow for planned development based on voluntary effort, firmly set in the context of the local community. These projects are:
1. Disadvantaged Youth: £4 million
A sum of £4 million be set aside for major developments of community youth projects in areas such as Tallaght, Darndale, Finglas, Ballymun, Ballyfermot and inner city Dublin. Projects in Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Galway as well as in other urban and rural areas, where need arises, will also be assisted following consultation with appropriate local interests. The needs of groups particularly at risk such as young homeless, young travellers, substance abusers and other young people at risk will be given special consideration in the allocation of resources.
2. Voluntary Youth Organisations: £1 million
The contribution of voluntary youth organisations in the provision of youth services is recognised. A sum of £1 million is being provided for the expansion and development of voluntary youth organisations in areas not previously catered for and for new programmes responding to emerging needs in the youth area. Voluntary youth councils will also be set up to provide an efficient and co-ordinated local youth service.
3. Special Projects: £1 million
A variety of new developments to complement the above measures will be funded to a total of £1 million. These include:
(a) Youth Exchanges
New programmes with other European countries and North America will be established. The current cross-border and British/Irish youth exchange programmes will be extended. The emphasis will be on enabling young people, who could not normally participate in these programmes to do so.
(b) Network of Youth Information Centres
In conjunction with the development of local youth services, a network of centres will be established to provide young people with easy access to basic information on their rights, benefits, opportunities at home and abroad, health, welfare and other issues.
(c)Special Training for Youth Workers and Volunteer Leaders and general co-ordination of services at local level.
The Government's intention is to maximise the volunteer element in the delivery of youth services. In order to achieve this, new training programmes promoting good practice in youth work will be supported. Such programmes will further develop the skills of voluntary and full-time workers enabling them to meet the needs of an evolving youth service. The Government is also anxious to develop a co-ordinated and cost efficient delivery of services to young people. A programme will be implemented therefore, to establish in local areas a co-ordinating mechanism based on the voluntary principles which inform youth work.