Vol. 576 No. 5
314 Mr. O'Connor asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the schedule now being followed in respect of the capital sports grants 2004; the position in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29712/03]
The national lottery funded sports capital programme, which is administered by my Department, allocates funding to sporting and community organisations at local, regional and national level throughout the country. The programme is advertised on an annual basis. The 2004 sports capital programme was advertised in the national newspapers on 30 November and 1 December last. The closing date for receipt of applications is 16 January 2004.
The applications received will be assessed in my Department in accordance with the guidelines, terms and conditions of the programme, which are issued to all prospective applicants along with their application forms. I intend to announce the grant allocations for the programme at the earliest possible stage once the assessment process has been completed. It is not possible to say at this stage how long the assessment process might take until officials in the Department can determine the number of applications received, their complexity and the work involved in processing them.
