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Sports Capital Programme Applications

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 April 2019

Tuesday, 2 April 2019

Ceisteanna (7)

Martin Heydon

Ceist:

7. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when the next round of sports capital grant funding will be opened for applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15124/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí ó Béal (6 píosaí cainte)

I ask the Minister for an update on the current round of sports capital grant applications for all sports clubs around the country that have applied for the scheme, particularly those close to my heart in County Kildare. When can they expect to hear word back? This year, under a new system, which is very much welcome, invalid applications will be considered. Will the Minister outline the process in respect of clubs whose applications are deemed invalid? Will they have an opportunity to rectify issues with their applications? What is the timeline involved in this regard? For clubs that did not have an opportunity to apply this time but now wish to do so, does the Minister envisage that another scheme will be opened up soon after this one?

I thank Deputy Heydon for his interest in this subject, as always, and for his constant interaction with me on the sports capital programme.

The sports capital programme is the primary vehicle for Government support for the development of sports and physical recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment throughout the country. Over the years, the programme has transformed the sporting landscape of the country, with new and improved facilities and equipment in practically every community.

The 2018 round of the sports capital programme closed for applications in October, with a record 2,337 applications submitted, seeking a total of €162 million in funding. Of these applications, 186 were for projects that were deemed invalid under the 2017 round of the programme but in respect of which corrected documents were submitted subsequently. These applications were assessed first and approximately €7 million in allocations to 170 projects was announced on 17 January. This is something Deputy Heydon and others sought, and it was very well received by the applicants in question who would otherwise still be waiting for funding. We were glad to facilitate this funding.

Work is now under way on assessing the new 2018 applications. For the first time, applicants who have submitted incorrect documentation under this round will be given the opportunity to correct their applications during the assessment period. Many Deputies, including Deputy Heydon, have raised this matter in the past. We were very glad to introduce this facility in the new round to give people who apply for sports capital grants - volunteers mainly - an opportunity to have their applications fully assessed and not invalidated. While there will be no undue delay in completing the assessment process, in view of the opportunity to correct documentation, the record number of applications received and the detailed information contained in each application, it is likely to take a number of months to have all applications assessed. Accordingly, I expect that it may be the third quarter of this year before the full set of allocations under this current round of the sports capital programme is announced. However, there are a number of non-personal sports equipment grants within this number, and we hope in the coming weeks to be able to make allocations to over 600 clubs that have applied for those grants, if possible. This would be helpful to many clubs coming into the summer period.

In answer to the final aspect of Deputy Heydon's question, as soon as we make the final allocations under the 2018 round of the sports capital programme, which I hope will be in autumn, we will carry out a full review of the 2018 round with a view to initiating the opening of the next round of the programme. I hope that will take place before the end of the year.

I thank the Minister of State for his response and for having an open door to feedback from us as to how the scheme has worked and ways in which it can be improved. For those volunteers who have put forward applications which for some reason were deemed invalid, giving them an opportunity to rectify matters is definitely important. Will the Minister of State clarify how this will work? Will all clubs receive a letter stating whether their applications are valid or invalid or will only clubs that had problems with validity get letters? When does the Minister of State envisage these letters will start to issue? How much time will the clubs have to rectify problems with their applications? If there are title deed issues, I presume not all of those will be able to be rectified but I presume the clubs will be given an opportunity to do so. I note that the Minister of State said it will be the third quarter of this year before we have the final decision. He might expand on which specific grants he may be able to allocate earlier. Are they purely for equipment, as opposed to infrastructural projects? He said he believes those grants may be allocated in the next month or two.

Some 635 applications from the total number received were for equipment only. Examples include rowing clubs looking for rowing boats and boxing clubs requesting punching bags etc. It might also include Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA, and soccer clubs seeking lawn mowers, as well as gyms looking only for gym equipment. Those types of applications are what we refer to as equipment-only applications. The total funding sought for those 635 applications is about €19 million. Logistically, we can group those applications and have them in the next couple of weeks. We hope to do that instead of those clubs having to wait with everybody else because the applications from those clubs are usually smaller. We will try to do that as soon as we can and try to facilitate as many clubs as possible as quickly as possible.

Regarding other grants and applications, departmental officials hope to write to everybody at the same time if there are issues. I refer to a document being missing, an inaccuracy and all of the things that would previously have invalidated an application. In those cases, the applicants will be written to and given a set time to submit the corrected document or documents. The officials will then reassess the applications. There is no more we can do if some remain invalid after that because of the logistics involved. Those applications that are valid will then be assessed with all of the others. As was stated, we hope the applications will then be eligible for allocation of funding in the autumn.

Does the Minister of State have a timeline as to when he expects to have adjudicated on all of the applications, valid or not? When might clubs expect feedback? I also have question about the large-scale application grants. The closing date for applications is later this month. I refer, in particular, to St. Conleth's Park, which is the county ground in Newbridge. The slogan "Newbridge or nowhere" became famous last year for good reason. The GAA did not want us playing a major championship game in our home ground. We are not proud of the state of our stand in Newbridge. We are, however, very proud of our football, ladies football, camogie and hurling teams. They play in St. Conleth's Park but our infrastructure could be much better. We need a large-scale infrastructural grant, as the Minister of State is aware. Given the application deadline, when does he anticipate a decision will be made on those projects? Kildare GAA is putting in its application currently.

We hope to have dealt with invalid cases by early summer. The window anticipated for correction of documents is two to three weeks. We would otherwise have a prolonged application and processing period. We will try to be as swift as possible with that element of the process. The Minister and I were very keen to introduce the large-scale sporting infrastructure fund. Our Department is frequently approached with requests for funding greater than that provided for in the traditional sports capital programme. We are glad to state we have secured capital funding for the large-scale sport infrastructure fund. We are currently receiving applications. The deadline is 17 April and we will start processing the applications received after that.

Initial feedback from officials in the Department indicates that scheme is going to be heavily oversubscribed. It is traditionally a feature of the regular sports capital programme that demand, unfortunately, far outstrips the funding available. We will, however, try to be as fair as possible to the applicants and as strategic as possible in the allocation of funding. We know there is pent up demand given the difficult period we are still arising from and the lack of investment that resulted from the economic crash. We will try to be as fast as possible in freeing up the finance for what we know are very necessary sporting infrastructure projects all over the country.

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