Vol. 532 No. 1
336 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the total amounts allocated by him from the proceeds of the national lottery or other sources in the past 12 months; the extent to which such works are currently in hand, pending or completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6916/01]
338 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the extent to which he has allocated funds from the proceeds of the national lottery or from other sources for the provision of sporting or recreational facilities in County Kildare in each of the past three years; the total amounts involved; the degree to which works have been completed or are pending; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6918/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 336 and 338 together.
Under the sports capital programme, which is funded from the proceeds of the national lottery, grants totalling £36 million were allocated to 679 projects throughout the country in 2000, including £2,001,500 for 29 projects in County Kildare. The grantees have until 28 September 2001 to submit the necessary documentation and draw down the grant. A number of these projects have already submitted the necessary documentation and work on the projects is under way. The grants in these cases will be paid on receipt of the certificate of payment or invoices.
Under the 1999 sports capital programme, grants totalling £20 million were allocated to 416 projects, including £1,981,000 for 21 projects in County Kildare. The grantees had until 30 September 2000 to draw down the grant. A substantial number of these projects have been completed while some are still ongoing. My Department is currently contacting the organisations whose projects have not yet commenced or who have not yet submitted any of the required documentation advising them that the grants are about to be withdrawn.
Under the 1998 sports capital programme, grants totalling £6 million were allocated to 246 projects, including £1,085,000 for 32 projects in County Kildare. The grantees had until 30 June 1999 to draw down grants. The majority of these grants have now been paid while a small number are still ongoing.
During the course of the year 2000, grants amounting to over £1 million were withdrawn from projects which did not commence on time or which failed to submit the necessary documentation to my Department.
Under the local authority swimming pool programme, I secured £45 million funding for an accelerated programme of investment over the three year period 2000-02 for the refurbishment of existing pools and provision of new pools. The package effectively increased the annual budget from £3 million to £15 million. Grants totalling £6.5 million were allocated towards the refurbishment of Roscommon pool and construction of new pools in Dundalk and Courtown, County Wexford during 2000. Work is in progress on these pools.
Local authorities were invited to submit proposals and a total of 51 such proposals were received in my Department by the closing date of 31 July 2000. Decisions have been made on five of these applications and there are 46 proposals from local authorities under consideration at present, including two for County Kildare for pools in Naas and Athy.
My Department has also committed a grant of £5.95 million towards the construction of the national 50-metre swimming pool in Limerick. Construction of this pool is under way and is expected to be completed later this year.
