Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 April 2024
203. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the extent to which her Department proposes to put special emphasis on local sporting and community organisations when considering the allocation of grants in the current year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17277/24]
View answerIn March, Minister Catherine Martin and I announced a record investment of almost €30 million in core funding support to sporting organisations, through Sport Ireland, for 2024. This funding will ensure that sporting organisations can continue to provide valuable opportunities for everyone to participate in sport.
Investment in the network of Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) has increased by €1 million for 2024, with a total investment of €11.4 million being allocated across the 29 LSPs around the country. This investment provides continued support for the excellent work that is being done by LSPs to ensure that participation opportunities exist at a local level.
With regard to capital support, 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 the 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 exceeds the record number submitted under the last (2020) round.
The Scoring System and Assessment Manual for the 2023 round has been 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 "equipment-only" applications are being assessed first. I hope to announce these "equipment only" grants next month. Work will then commence on assessing the capital applications with the allocations to be announced later in the year.
