Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 September 2021
298. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the status of an appeal submitted by Kildare County Council in respect of a grant from the large-scale sport infrastructure fund for a swimming pool in Maynooth, County Kildare. [43007/21]
View answerThe Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) was launched in 2018 to provide Exchequer support for larger sports facility projects, including swimming pools, with at least €100m being made available over the period to 2027.
An application was received from Kildare County Council in respect of the project referred to by the Deputy. All applications under the LSSIF were assessed in accordance with the published scoring criteria. The scores were awarded based on factors such as the priority given to the project by the relevant NGB and/or local authority, the level of funding being provided by the project sponsor and how the project was likely to increase participation. The total funding applied for under the scheme significantly exceeded the amount available to allocate and the project referred to by the Deputy did not score sufficiently highly to be awarded a grant under this first set of allocations.
All unsuccessful applicants were given the opportunity to appeal the Department’s decision if it was felt that an error was made in the assessment process. Six appeals were received including one in respect of the application referred to by the Deputy. The appeal was assessed by officials who were not involved in the initial assessment process. While no significant errors were discovered in the scoring to warrant a grant award in this case, my Department is currently undertaking a review of progress on all existing LSSIF grants. As part of this work my Department is examining, inter alia, progress on all projects awarded funding to date. The scope for awarding new grants to projects which missed out under the first set of allocations is also being considered as part of this review. As part of the review, my Department is also considering the timing of any new call for proposals and it is expected that the review will be completed in the coming months.
