Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 September 2023
304. Deputy Imelda Munster asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to detail the funding streams an organisation (details supplied) can apply to for a mobile wheelchair pool hoist, which costs approximately €12,000; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41662/23]
View answerIn terms of my Department's responsibilities, 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 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 grants have been allocated to the Irish Wheelchair Association under previous rounds of the programme. An application for the type of equipment in question would be eligible for funding under the programme.
The latest round of the SCEP closed for applications on Friday 8th September. A preliminary examination of the submitted applications is now underway and it is clear that the Programme has again generated a very large number of applications.
Work is now underway on drafting the "Scoring Assessment and Assessment Manual" for the 2023 round and I hope to have this finalised in the coming weeks. Once this is published, the detailed assessment work can commence.
In view of the volume of applications received, however, it will take several months to have the assessment process complete. In this regard, it is planned to assess the "Equipment-only" applications first with a view to announcing these grants in the coming months. Work will then commence on the assessment of the capital applications with the allocations likely to be announced later in 2024. Once all allocations are finalised, an announcement will be made in relation to the next call for proposals under the programme.
