Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 October 2004
227 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the extent to which his Department has funded sporting or recreational groups directly or indirectly in the past 12 months; his plans for the future in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25818/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe 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.
Under the 2004 sports capital programme €61 million was allocated in respect of 738 projects. These allocations give very real, practical effect to the commitment made in the programme for Government that we will continue to invest in sports facilities around the country. This ongoing investment is yielding an excellent network of facilities for all levels of sport in Ireland and is providing a framework on which the delivery and implementation of national sports policy can be built, covering the three main pillars of our sports strategy — participation, performance and excellence.
An amount of €100,000 was also allocated this year towards the renovation of the accommodation at Mosney, which is used to house the participants in the national finals of the Community Games.
The Irish Sports Council is the statutory body with responsibility for the development of sport. The provision in funding for the Irish Sports Council in the 2004 Estimates is more than €30 million of which €11 million has been allocated to national governing bodies of sport and more than €2 million to local sports partnerships to help promote and develop sport at local level.
