Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 October 2021
26. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the supports both capital and current expected to assist sports facilities across Ireland recognising the significant positive impact they have on communities and well-being; the way she plans to support these into the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47968/21]
View answerIn relation to current supports, earlier today Minister Catherine Martin and I announced that additional current funding of up to €65 million will be available to support the sport sector this year. Allied to the additional current expenditure of €26.3 million already provided to Sport Ireland, a total of €91.3 million will have been allocated in additional current funding to support the sport sector in 2021.
This package is intended to support National Governing Bodies of Sport and sports clubs arising from the significant impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the sports sector. The package includes funding for a swimming pools/facilities fund to assist pools and facilities in reopening. The schemes are being run by Sport Ireland, who are engaging with the sector at present in relation to the application process.
In 2020, a total Covid-19 funding package of €88.5 million in current funding was provided to support the sport sector.
In relation to providing capital assistance for new sports facilities, my Department operates two grant schemes.
The 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 were published earlier this year and all applications are being assessed accordingly. Approximately one thousand of the submitted applications were for 'equipment-only' projects. These applications were assessed first and grants with a total value of €16.6m were announced on the 6th August. The remaining applications for capital works are now being assessed with allocations expected before the end of this year. Once these allocations are finalised an announcement will made in relation to the opening of the next round of the Programme.
The Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) is designed for projects where the grant sought is greater than the maximum available under the SCEP. The first allocations under the LSSIF were announced in January 2020 and thus far, approximately €86.4m has been awarded to 33 different proposals. The priority in the short term is to advance all of these projects. As it is now over 18 months since the first allocations were made, and in view of the issues faced by grantees as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is timely to review progress on all projects. My Department is engaging with all grantees in this regard. The timing of any new call for proposals is also being considered and it is expected that the Review will be completed in the coming months.
