Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 February 2021
272. Deputy Imelda Munster asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the funding or grant aid supports that are available to sports clubs and organisations based in Northern Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10329/21]
View answerThe Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP) is the primary vehicle for Government support for the development of sports and recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment throughout the country. Over 12,000 projects have now benefited from sports capital funding since 1998, bringing the total allocations in that time to close to €1 billion. The programme does not fund projects in Northern Ireland.
A Covid-19 funding package of €85 million was provided last year to support the sport sector. This package included funding for individual clubs under the Sports Club Resilience Fund. This funding is being delivered directly by the National Governing Bodies through programmes established by each of the National Governing Bodies in receipt of funding. Funding allocated to National Governing Bodies operating on an all-island basis was only for clubs located in this jurisdiction.
In terms of cross-border working, I am happy to say there is ongoing weekly contact between officials in my Department and officials in the Northern Ireland Department for Communities to discuss the challenges faced by the sporting bodies on the island of Ireland and exchange information, including with regard to support schemes delivered by the Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. In addition, there is regular contact between Sport Ireland and Sport Northern Ireland and the two agencies are working closely together to support our sporting bodies and high performance athletes.
