Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 June 2020
738. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the additional financial supports which can be provided for local authority sports centres that are facing considerably increased financial costs (details supplied) but wish to continue providing their services to the marginalised, older persons, socially disadvantaged and disabled users they serve; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13583/20]
View answerOverall responsibility for local authority policy and finance rests with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
In relation to my Department's responsibilities, the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme (LASPP), provides capital funding for the construction of swimming pools. This programme is for capital purposes only however, and has never provided current funding for operational costs associated with these pools.
Sport Ireland, which is the statutory body for the development of sport, supports a network of Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) throughout the country. My Department, through Sport Ireland, supports LSPs as a model for collaboration between Sport Ireland and the local authorities with the purpose of delivering sports and physical activity programmes in local facilities, including local authority sport centres.
The additional funding package for the sport sector announced on 19 June includes a Sports Restart and Renewal Fund of up to €5m. A proportion of this funding, which will be administered and disbursed by Sport Ireland, will be channelled to the network of LSPs for new programmes at a local level over the coming months. While funding at local level may be provided to swimming programmes, funding will not be provided to swimming pool operators. This is a matter for the pool owners, including local authorities.
More generally, the Government is committed to ensuring as many businesses as possible survive this challenging period, and it will continue to look at how we can support businesses that have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. In recent months a substantial and wide range of financial supports and guidance to help businesses impacted by the Covid 19 crisis have been put in place. Details of these are available on the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation website at the following link https://dbei.gov.ie/en/What-We-Do/Supports-for-SMEs/COVID-19-supports/
