Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 October 2020
140. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media her plans for the development of an international kayak centre at Inner Harbour, Westport, County Mayo (details supplied). [29514/20]
View answerMy Department is not currently involved in the proposed project.
Insofar as the availability of funds is concerned, the 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. It is open to sports clubs, community groups, national governing bodies of sport and local authorities to apply for funding. With regard to future rounds of the programme, a full Review of the 2018 round of the SCP has now been completed and the terms and conditions of the next round of the programme will be based on the recommendations in the Review. Work on these terms and conditions is now being finalised and an announcement in relation to the timing of the next round will be made after that is completed.
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 available under the SCP. Provisional Grants totalling €82.5m were announced in January of this year. While it is not proposed to open the fund for new applications at present, it is planned to review progress on existing grants in 2021 when the question of whether or not it would be appropriate to seek new applications will be considered.
