Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 March 2019
565. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason a sports capital application from a group (details supplied) was granted only partial funding under the sports capital programme 2017 in view of the fact the amount does not facilitate completion of the works applied for; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11734/19]
View answer566. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if it is policy to allocate partial funding for applications under the sports capital programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11735/19]
View answer567. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the way in which the percentage or level of funding is determined in circumstances in which it is decided to only partially fund applications under the sports capital programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11736/19]
View answer568. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the scoring system and assessment procedures used to validate the allocation of partial funding for a group (details supplied) under the sports capital programme 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11737/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 565 to 568, inclusive, together.
The total amount sought under the Sports Capital Programme (SCP) has exceeded the total funding available under every previous round of the programme. Accordingly, it has not been possible to allocate the full amount sought to every applicant.
As part of the 2018 SCP, 431 applicants that were deemed invalid under the 2017 round of the Programme were invited to submit corrected documentation to allow their applications to be considered for funding. 186 organisations took up this offer and 170 (91%) were ultimately awarded grants including the organisation referred to by the Deputy.
As the application in question was a resubmitted 2017 application, the same methodology for assessment and allocating grant amounts was used as for the original 2017 applications. The full scoring system and assessment procedure in this regard is available on the Department’s website. All applications were assessed according to the published criteria including the likelihood of increasing participation, whether the proposed facilities were being shared, the level of socio-economic disadvantage in the area of the project (based on the Pobal index of deprivation) and the level of SCP funding previously allocated.
The overall score at assessment stage, the amount of funding sought and the amount available for that county (on a per capita basis) were the key determinants of individual grant awards.
Full details of the scoring obtained under the various criteria were provided to all successful applicants including the organisation referred to by the Deputy when the letter of provisional allocation issued. With regard to the possibility of providing any additional funding, it is of course open to the organisation to make a further application when the next round of the SCP is open for applications.
