Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 February 2024
233. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if he will provide emergency State aid, for a club (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5431/24]
View answerThe 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.
The facility referred to by the Deputy was funded under the SCEP and it is a standard condition of the grant agreement that grantees must maintain adequate insurance. Accordingly, it would be expected that reinstatement of this particular facility should be achieved under the club's insurance cover in the first instance.
The latest round of the SCEP (2023) closed for applications on Friday 8 September, 2023. A preliminary examination of the submitted applications demonstrates that the Programme has again generated a very large number of applications, including one from the organisation to which the Deputy refers. The "Scoring System and Assessment Manual" for the 2023 round has been finalised and published along with a list of all applications received by county including the relevant sport type for each application received. The detailed assessment work has commenced and it is planned to assess the "equipment-only" applications first and announce these grants in the coming months. Work will then commence on assessing the capital applications with the allocations to be announced later.
Should the club be successful in its application for capital funding, my officials would be happy to engage with the club on its priorities for the allocation of such funding to take account of the damage suffered to its facilities.
