Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 October 2023
11. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media for an update on the large-scale sports infrastructure fund; the number of projects that were allotted funding under the previous round and an update on progress from these projects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45100/23]
View answer26. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media when the large-scale sports infrastructure fund will open for applications. [45220/23]
View answerWe now move on to questions Nos. 11 and 26, and Deputy Brendan Smith has been nominated.
The large-scale sports infrastructure fund is extremely important for the further development of all sports, for women and men. I was glad to hear the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, reiterate his commitment to ensuring that the projects that have already received approval will proceed as soon as possible. Apart from the important sports events in our own country, we need to ensure we have a range of sporting facilities to attract even more international games and events. Sports facilities and stadiums should be multipurpose and facilitate as many sports as possible.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 26 together.
I thank Deputy Smith for asking these questions and Deputies Pádraig O'Sullivan and McAuliffe for submitting them. The large-scale sports infrastructure fund, which I have outlined already, was a significant fund that awarded approximately €86.4 million to 33 different projects. Details, including the project cap, are on the Department's website.
I also outlined the difficulties with some of those projects due to the pandemic and, subsequently, construction inflation. We have gone through all of the projects to try to encourage them along. Only a very small number have opened. I was at the official opening of the athletics hub in Newcastle West, which is a fabulous facility. I particularly like that there is public access to that project and it is not only for the athletes who will need and use it. I officially opened the linear walkway in Dunboyne. Phase one of Walsh Park in Waterford is now complete.
Some projects are, however, very slow and that is an issue. We want to make sure we can get the rest of these projects, insofar as we can, off the ground. We recently engaged with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, and officials wrote to the all of the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF, grantees inviting them to apply for additional funding support by 4 August 2023. Work has been ongoing in the Department since then. In due course, I hope to be in a position to announce further allocations to grantees with a view to ensuring that all the projects that have been awarded grants will go ahead.
I hope there will be a new round of LSSIF and I will continue to engage with the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, on that.
I thank the Minister of State for his response. I also welcome the Minister's engagement with me to date on the proposed Cavan sports complex. I assure the Minister of State, as I did previously, that the Cavan regional sports complex has advanced significantly since the original decision in 2020 to award funding. I compliment the Cavan County Board of the GAA, Cavan County Council and the Royal School Cavan, which are the promoters of this project, and welcome the strong support for the project shown by other local and national sporting bodies.
The Cavan sports complex will cater for as many sports as possible, with a very strong emphasis on minority sports and women in sports. The Minister of State and the Minister will be familiar with Breffni Park in Cavan. This proposed new sports complex will adjoin Breffni Park and will complement the excellent facilities we have there already. It will have a range of sporting facilities.
With regard to the application for funding for the project, I am anxious that the request to the Department for further funding, following the Department's announcement of possible additional funding, will be processed and approved as soon as possible.
I thank the Deputy. I am hopeful the Cavan project will be able to start and be completed. There have been active discussions between the Department and the promoters of the Cavan regional sports campus that Deputy Brendan Smith has been in touch with me a lot about. He is very committed to that project. We are very committed to that project as well. We did offer further funding during the summer to everybody. Almost all of the large scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF, recipients applied for further funding and I do hope to be in a position in due course to announce further funding. The idea of that funding would be to get these projects off the ground and I sincerely hope that it will. They had difficulties but they are really worthwhile projects that we want to see built. I know Deputy Brendan Smith and his colleagues in Cavan want to see this project completed as well.
I thank the Minister of State. Again I want to put on the record that I have been very glad to work closely along with Cavan County Council, with Brendan Jennings and John Donohoe, with the Cavan County Board, Kieran Callaghan and Martin Cahill, along with the Royal School in Cavan, Bishop Ferran Glenfield, Padraic Corley and Canon Lidwill. They are really working together to ensure that this is a real community project. We would have a huge range of new facilities catering for all sports. This includes quite a large number of playing pitches, hockey pitches, athletics tracks, all of that encompassing a strong sports complex. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending Breffni Park for the Ulster rugby game against Glasgow Warriors. The Cavan County Board of the GAA is ensuring its facilities are available to other sports. That is the type of policy we need going forward, so that our sporting facilities of all sizes, the smaller stadia and the larger ones, cater for different sports and not just those of their parent discipline.
Very briefly, for future large-scale sports infrastructure funds, I want to flag that the potential benefits that will be presented by the hosting of Euro 2028 for soccer will be immense. I ask the Minister of State to give careful consideration to the sort of investment that will be required in football clubs, particularly the stadia up and down the country that are in desperate need of investment. It is a wonderful opportunity, not for this round but for future capital investment.
I am fairly sure the Minister of State welcomes the good news for Drogheda United on funding from a professionalisation point of view. If we are talking about development of a new stadium, that is what is needed in the League of Ireland as regards sustainability. That is the big byword. Obviously we have a particular high that is ongoing in respect of soccer and League of Ireland. A club I support, Dundalk F.C., is involved with the local authorities and others to develop a viable project to upgrade Oriel Park. With all the great history that Dundalk F.C. has, it is a stadium that is in real need of work. We would be looking at the likes of the large-scale sports infrastructure fund as a possible solution to part of this problem into the future.
I concur with other Members on the real need for increased sporting facilities within each of our constituencies. I thank the Minister of State for visiting Castlebar recently to launch a report on the importance of sport within the county town. We have seen the success of the Lough Lannagh project with a new swimming pool, adjacent tennis clubs, walkways and so on. Collaboration with the Minister of State's Department and local authorities can be a game-changer in ensuring we have more participation, better sporting facilities and better investment and use of Government funding. We know how important it is to get young people involved and get them active for their well-being and for their physical and mental health. The Minister of State talked previously about the increased applications that are currently being reviewed for the sports capital programme. Going into 2024 I hope that we have one of the largest national pots in the sports capital programme to deliver all across Ireland.
I join with other Deputies in calling for the details for the large-scale sports capital grants to be made available and to allow projects to make applications. I have spoken to the Minister of State many times about Bohemians Football Club in Dalymount stadium, a stadium with a huge history but also great potential. The partnership between the FAI, Dublin City Council and Bohs has the opportunity to apply for such a scheme. It will have significant benefit in the community. It is not just about the club itself but also the work they do on and off the pitch and the partnership with Dublin City Council and the Phibsborough area, which I do not represent but I know many of the groups there, and also the wider community on the northside. These large-scale projects fall outside the normal run of sports capital grants but they are incredibly important and have a huge impact on the cultural and sporting life of an area. I do not have to explain that to the Minister of State or to the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, as I know they are massive supporters.
Of course I will continue to work with Deputy Brendan Smith on the project in Cavan. I hope to be announcing extra funding for successful applicants for LSSIF in due course. I agree with Deputy Alan Farrell on the Euros. Deputy Ó Murchú talked about Drogheda United. I am very grateful that the board briefed me on developments there. I am very conscious that it is a matter for the members of the club to make decisions there. I will not comment one way or the other but will let them make the decision. Investment from the outside is part of it too. It is not just about Government investment.
Dalymount Park is a place I know well. My late father played there against Bohemians and probably others at the time. That is a project I have visited with Senator Mary Fitzpatrick. It has received funding to go to planning. The LSSIF funding has allowed that to go to planning. They are waiting to submit an application for LSSIF funding. Deputy Dillon mentioned Lough Lannagh which I visited recently in Castlebar. I wish I could have one of them in every town in Ireland of a similar size. It is an incredible facility and it is very welcome that it was supported by the Government.
