The National Sports Policy which was published last year provided for the establishment of a new Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The aim of the fund is to provide support for larger sports facilities where the Exchequer investment is greater than the maximum amount available under the Sports Capital Programme (SCP). These may be projects where the primary objective will be to increase active participation in sport or large scale venues/stadia where the focus is more related to social participation and high performance sport. The new fund is designed to provide a transparent and robust system for funding such projects.
The Government has provided a capital allocation of at least €100m for the period to 2027 for the LSSIF. The new scheme closed for applications on the 17th April 2019 with applications initially confined to local authorities and National Governing Bodies of sport. By the closing date, 72 applications were received. Details of the scheme along with all applications received have been published on the Department's website along with the evaluation procedures and guidelines.