Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 January 2018
1407. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the basis on which it was decided to award one point for non GAA sports for ball stop netting while awarding two points for applications in respect of ball stop netting for GAA; his views on whether this scoring system is fair; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55260/17]
View answerThe assessment process and scoring scheme used for the Sports Capital Programme (SCP) has been developed based on experience of overseeing the programme over a number of years. While some changes were made to the scoring system for the 2017 round of the SCP, no alterations were made to the scores awarded for ball stop netting. The assessment process and scoring system is primarily designed to reward projects:
- that have a positive impact on participation,
- that are being proposed by clubs/organisations that have not received significant funding in the past,
- that are from disadvantaged areas, and
- that promote sharing of facilities
Ball stop netting is clearly more relevant for certain sports due to the nature of the sports themselves. In this regard, the necessity for ball stop netting for gaelic games was deemed to be particularly strong due to the fact that gaelic footballs and sliotars regularly get kicked and pucked higher and further away from goal posts in comparison to other field sports. Accordingly, it was decided that these applications could receive a higher mark than non-GAA applications. While I consider the overall scoring system for the SCP to be reasonable and fair, all aspects of it will be reviewed prior to the next round of the SCP.
