Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 April 2015
30. Deputy John Halligan asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in relation to the sports capital programme and the confusion regarding the deadline, the online register having closed on 10 April 2015 despite the fact that the actual deadline was 24 April 2015, if his Department will consider extending the deadlines to ensure that all applicants have their applications accepted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16519/15]
View answerThe deadline for applications under the 2015 Sports Capital Programme was 5pm on Friday 24 April. I have no intention of reopening the Programme at this stage and to do so would be grossly unfair on organisations that completed their applications on time.
Registrations for the Programme opened in September 2013 and by the registration deadline of 10 April 2015 over 3,800 separate organisations had registered. The deadline for registration was advertised in the national press, displayed prominently on the Sports Capital Programme website (where all applications were made) and emailed to groups such as local sports partnerships and national governing bodies of sport. I am not aware of any confusion with regard to this deadline.
As each registration requires officials in the Sports Capital Programme Unit of the Department to check documentation, associate any previous grants with the organisation and check that the organisation is not previously registered, it would not be possible to keep registrations open until the deadline for applications as this would leave organisations no time to complete their applications. It is also desirable that the Unit is able to give registered organisations their full attention in helping them to complete their applications.
