Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 February 2004
188 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if he or his Department has offered directly or through the allocation of national lottery funds, grant assistance to sporting, recreational or theatrical groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6303/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder a scheme of capital grants entitled ACCESS, the arts and culture capital enhancement support scheme, my Department provides national lottery funded capital grants for various kinds of cultural infrastructure including museums, theatres, art centres and the refurbishment of existing performance spaces. The scheme is designed to lead to the provision of high standard arts and cultural infrastructure throughout the country and it is my hope that it will lead to greater participation in the arts. The ACCESS scheme places particular emphasis on community based projects and 17 such projects are to receive grant aid out of 44 selected during the lifetime of the scheme, 2001 to 2004.
The national lottery-funded sports capital programme, which is administered by my Department, provides funding to voluntary sporting and community organisations at local, regional and national level throughout the country towards the provision of sport and recreational facilities. The programme is advertised on an annual basis. A total of 1,302 applications was received before the closing date for the current round of allocations of 16 January 2004. These applications are currently being evaluated against the assessment criteria outlined in the guidelines, terms and conditions of the programme. I intend to announce the grant allocations for the 2004 programme as soon as possible after the assessment process has been completed.
The Irish Sports Council is also allocated national lottery funds to provide general assistance to sports organisations and to meet other expenditure on sports activities.
