Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 September 2021
204. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if an additional financial allocation will be provided to her Department given the number of applications received and the associated costs of projects submitted under the current round of the sports capital grants scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44325/21]
View answerThe Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP) 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 2020 round of the SCEP closed for applications on Monday 1st March 2021. By the closing date, over 3,100 applications were submitted seeking over €200m in funding. This is the highest number of applications ever received.
The scoring system and assessment procedures was published earlier this year and all applications are being assessed in accordance with these. Approximately one thousand of the submitted applications were for "equipment only" projects. These applications were assessed first and €16.6m worth of grants was announced on the 6th August.
The remaining applications for capital works are now being assessed. Given the large number of applications received, this work is likely to take a number of months to complete with allocations expected to be announced before the end of this year.
A decision on the total allocation amount will not be made until all applications have been assessed. Every effort will be made to fund as many worthwhile projects as possible while providing a sufficient level of grant to ensure the projects are viable.
