Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 February 2024
246. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if an application (details supplied) in County Kerry for the SCEP will be categorised as equipment only; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9039/24]
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. 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 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. The total number of 3,210 applications, including the application referred to by the Deputy, exceeds the record number submitted under the last (2020) round.
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.
As part of the assessment process officials are examining if applications have been submitted under the appropriate category and will change the categorisation if appropriate.
