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.
Applications for funding under the 2005 programme were invited through advertisements in the press on 5 and 6 December last. The closing date for receipt of applications was 4 February 2005. Details of the number of grant applications received from each county are as follows: Carlow — 22; Cavan — 20; Clare — 33; Cork — 151; Donegal — 59; Dublin — 267; Galway — 100; Kerry — 81; Kildare — 44; Kilkenny — 26; Laois — 22; Leitrim — 23; Limerick — 59; Longford — 19; Louth — 42; Mayo — 53; Meath — 28; Monaghan — 39; Offaly — 35; Roscommon — 32; Sligo — 21; Tipperary — 56; Waterford — 40; Westmeath — 25; Wexford — 38; Wicklow — 27; Total — 1,362.
All of these applications are currently being evaluated against the programme's assessment criteria, which are outlined in the guidelines, terms and conditions of the programme. I intend to announce the grant allocations for the programme as soon as possible after the assessment process has been completed.