David Stanton
Question:5 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the plans he has to increase the funding for the sports capital programme in 2001; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16430/01]
Ceisteanna–Questions. Priority Questions. - Sports Capital Programme.
The national lottery funded sports capital programme, which is administered by my Department, provides funding to voluntary sporting and community organisations at local, regional and national levels throughout the country towards the provision of sport and recreational facilities. Under the 2001 sport capital programme I have received 1,467 applications and these are currently being evaluated against the programme's assessment criteria, which are outlined in the guidelines for the programme. As soon as the assessment of the projects has been completed, I will be in a position to finalise the overall budget for this year's allocation.
In the past three years, 1998 to 2000, this Government has allocated grants to the value of approximately £62 million to more than 1,300 projects. Compared with the three year total of £18 million in allocations by the previous Government in the period 1995 to 1997, the commitment of this Government to the provision of funding for sport and recreation facilities nationwide is clear.
Does the Minister agree that the amount he proposes to make available this year leaves a shortfall of almost £200 million? Could the Minister confirm that the amount he proposes to make available this year is short of last year's amount? Will he provide the figures for both?
In my colleague, Deputy Ryan's area, £46 million was spent on young people from the youth and facilities fund. As I pointed out to the Deputy, since we came into office, the amount of money going to sport is phenomenal. The average grant in 2000 was £52,700 compared to between £10,000 and £12,000 when the Deputy's party was in Government. Under the sports capital programme from 1998 to 2002, the number of projects funded increased by 176% from 246 to 679. The amount of money allocated to these capital programmes increased 500% and the average grant by 118%.
These included major indoor facilities. We put £4.8 million into Santry stadium. We put athletic facilities in Cork, Galway, Castleisland, Navan and Ringsend. We contributed £1.3 million to the national boxing stadium and £500,000 to the national rowing centre in County Cork. In the Eircom soccer league, nine clubs got support. Shamrock Rovers were given £500,000, while Dalymount and Tolka Park got £550,000 each. Out of the 26 county grounds, 15 received support during my term in office. In 2000, the GAA received £10.82 million, soccer £5.45 million and rugby £706,000. Under this Government, £20 million went to Croke Park. We put £45 million into the swimming pool programme, to which the Deputy's Government gave £3 million a year. We financed a 50 metre national swimming pool in Limerick by £6 million and £85 million is earmarked in the national development plan.
That was not a good question.
Wait until the supplementary.
The Deputy's leader says that he would spend £0.5 billion on small facilities. We are half way there already. As I pointed out to the Deputy, it is all right to promise these things but there are not enough developers and construction people to build these facilities. Projects, which some regard as little, of £200,000 or £300,000 are a drop in the ocean compared to the type the developments developers are involved in today because the economy is such that they make millions building houses and other projects. It is difficult to get them. One can promise all one wants, but at the end of the year, I still must hand back funding. I intend to announce shortly this year's allocation of the national lottery funds. We will continue to do approximately 500 to 700 more projects this year.
I compliment the Minister on dodging the question I asked. It is a simple question and maybe he will give me a simple answer. How much money will he make available this year in the sports capital grant? Is it virtually half of what he made available last year? Is it true what he told Deputy Owen, that he will make it £19 million this year and gave £36 million last year? Is it also true that on those figures, we will be approximately £200 million short of applications nationally? There is a huge demand for our infrastructure to be upgraded. Why is he halving the amount of money of the sports capital grant? The Minister had this question in plenty of time. Why is he dodging a reply? It is a written question that was in his Department long enough. Will he reply to the question asked?
Of course I will. In responding to Deputy Owen, we worked off the Estimates, as the Deputy's colleagues can inform him. The answer to Deputy Owen of £19 million was worked out from the Estimates for last year. This has been explained. We estimated £19 million and because of all the extra applications that came in, I explained to my colleague, Deputy McCreevy, that we need more money. We increased it to £36 million. The same will happen this year. There are requests in every year for over £200 million. They exist on paper. There are some very poor applications and some counties' applications dropped this year. In previous years we gave out £10,000 and £15,000 like snuff at a wake. We gave 10% or 20% of a grant and asked the community or club to get the rest. I changed that around and now I ask them to raise a minimum of 20%. Unfortunately, many clubs have no planning permission or funding. Many wrote in willy-nilly seeking to build little Wemblies. Some of the applications do not stand up. It is easy to say that we are looking for £220 million but at least £120 million is pie in the sky because there is nothing to back it up. That is the problem.