Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 April 2024
32. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if she will provide a list of the funding available to swimming pools needing capital investment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16700/24]
View answerIn relation to my Department's responsibilities, capital funding for swimming pools was previously provided through the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme (LASPP). 52 pools have been completed under the Programme and three swimming pool projects (Lucan, Buncrana and Edenderry) remain in the LASPP, with the Lucan project currently being completed.
Capital support for new swimming pools is currently being provided through the Department’s Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The National Sports Policy was published on 25 July 2018 and provided for this Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund. The aim of the fund is to provide Exchequer support for larger sports facility projects where the Exchequer investment sought would be greater than the maximum amount available under the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP).
The first call for proposals under the LSSIF closed in 2019 with applications confined to Local Authorities and National Governing Bodies of Sport. New swimming pool projects and the refurbishment of existing swimming pools were eligible to apply for LSSIF grant funding subject to published guidelines and regulations. The first LSSIF allocations were announced in January 2020 and thus far, approximately €124 million has been awarded to 33 different proposals including 8 swimming pool projects. While the finalised LSSIF allocations provided funding to a variety of sports, swimming was recognised as a sport that enjoys participation at all ages and levels of ability. In this regard, almost 25% of all approved projects have a swimming pool element representing one of the highest level of success for any sport.
Separately, applications for improvements or renovations to existing, publicly accessible swimming pools were accepted under the most recent round of the SCEP which closed for applications in September 2023.
Minister Martin and I also confirmed that a new round of the LSSIF will open for applications in the first half of 2024, with the dates, terms and conditions to be published on the Department’s website in due course. I would encourage all eligible projects to consider applying for this competitive application process when it opens later this year.
