Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 July 2020
128. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the potential funding streams available to a club (details supplied) in County Meath to help build and develop a permanent facility; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17988/20]
View answerThe Sports Capital Programme (SCP) is the primary vehicle for Government support for the development of sports and physical recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment throughout the country. The most recent (2018) round of the SCP attracted a record 2,337 applications. Allocations were announced in January, May and November of last year with a total of over €56 million awarded to 1,648 different projects. All unsuccessful applicants were given the opportunity to appeal the Department’s decision. In relation to the capital grants announced in November, a total of 122 appeals were submitted by the December deadline. The review of these appeals was completed in April 2020 with 6 new allocations approved. Following the finalisation of the appeals process, a full Review of the 2018 round of the SCP was undertaken. This Review is currently under consideration and includes recommendations for some changes to the terms and conditions of the next round of the SCP. I understand that this is expected to be finalised shortly and a decision on the timing of a new round of the SCP will be taken after that.
In relation to larger capital projects, the National Sports Policy published in 2018 provided for the establishment of a 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 (€300,000) available under the Sports Capital Programme (SCP). Provisional Grants totalling €82.5m were announced in January of this year. The scheme was open to National Governing Bodies of Sport and Local Authorities. While the fund is not open to new applications at present, further calls for applications under the scheme are envisaged in the future.
