Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 May 2005
106 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if he will consider giving preferential treatment to applications made for grant aid under the sports capital programme to provide facilities on or adjacent to local primary or post-primary schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15024/05]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe national lottery-funded sports capital programme administered by my Department allocates funding to sporting, voluntary and community organisations throughout the country. While responsibility for the provision of facilities in national and secondary schools rests with the Department of Education and Science, applications from schools and colleges may be considered under the sports capital programme in certain circumstances, where those facilities are made available to the wider community.
Applications from schools and colleges must be made jointly with local sports clubs or community groups and must provide for significant levels of usage by the local community during periods when the facilities are not being used by the school itself and must demonstrate that the facilities concerned will meet an identified deficiency in that locality, as agreed with other local groups.
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. All the 1,362 applications received before that deadline, including 30 related to facilities in primary and secondary schools, are currently being evaluated against the programme's assessment criteria, which are outlined in the guidelines, terms and conditions of the programme. Preferential treatment in terms of the assessment is given to projects, including joint school-club applications, which are designated as disadvantaged under the programme. These are areas that have been designated by Government for special support through the schemes administered by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, that is, RAPID 1, RAPID 2, local drugs task force areas and CLÁR areas. I intend to announce the grant allocations for the programme as soon as possible after the assessment process has been completed.
The programme for Government includes a commitment to putting in place a long-term strategic plan to ensure the development of local sports facilities throughout the country. As part of that plan, an inter-agency steering group will be set up later this year to oversee the implementation of this long-term strategy.
One of the issues likely to be considered by this group will be potential for greater co-operation between the Departments in the administration of programmes aimed at meeting the sporting and recreational needs of communities and maximising the use of existing sports facilities by local communities and in particular, those located in schools.
