Seán Sherlock
Question:528. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media when the next round of sports capital funding will open. [40145/22]
View answerTuesday, 26 July 2022
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The 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 13,000 projects have now benefited from sports capital funding since 1998, bringing the total allocations in that time to over €1.15 billion. The Programme for Government commits to continuing the SCEP and to prioritising investment in disadvantaged areas.
The 2020 round of the SCEP closed for applications on Monday 1 March 2021 and by the deadline a record 3,106 applications were submitted.
Approximately one thousand of the submitted applications were for 'equipment-only' projects. These applications were assessed first and grants with a total value of €16.6 million were announced on 6 August, 2021.
The remaining capital applications were then assessed and 1,865 individual grant offers with a total value of over €143.8 million were announced on Friday 11 February 2022.
Unsuccessful applicants were able to appeal the Department's decision. The deadline for submission of capital appeals was Monday 4 April and 146 appeals were received. The assessment of all appeals is complete and the consequent allocations amounting to €6.14 million were announced on Tuesday 31 May.
The priority in the short term is to advance the 2,895 successful applications under the 2020 round to "formal approval" and grant drawdown stage which requires detailed engagement with all grantees. Now that the appeals process is complete, my Department has also begun a full review of all aspects of the 2020 round of the SCEP and any recommendations arising will be reflected in the terms and conditions of the next round. Following the completion of the review my department intends to open a new round of the programme in the period after this is completed.