Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 December 2023
377. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the supports provided to strengthen and develop sports facilities and organisations since 27 June 2020. [55283/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraI recognise both the importance of sport and physical activity for the health and well-being of our society and the need to support the sporting sector to ensure that opportunities are in place to allow all members of society to participate in sport.
Since 2020, this Government has provided over €177 million in Covid-19 funding to support the sport sector in addressing the challenges presented by the pandemic. In addition, we have directed significant funding to help sports clubs, organisations and facilities to cope with the significant spike in energy costs in 2022 and 2023. In this context, Sport Ireland has paid €23.5 million to date under the Sports Energy Support Scheme, supporting over 1,900 clubs, community-led sports facilities, national facilities and major stadiums.
In October 2023, Minister Martin and I announced an overall 2024 budget allocation of €183.3 million for sport. That is an increase of €8 million (4.6%) compared to this year and places us well on track to meet the target of doubling funding to sport within the lifetime of the National Sports Policy, 2018 - 2027.
The 2024 Budget allocation for Sport Ireland will deliver an increase of over €7 million in its budget, bringing it to €106.7 million. This level of funding will allow Sport Ireland to continue to support the sport sector which is still recovering from the challenges of Covid-19 and, like all sectors, continues to face difficulties around rising energy costs. It will also allow Sport Ireland to increase its funding support in a number of very important areas next year, including a €2 million increase in core funding for sporting organisations.
The Government is committed to ensuring increased opportunities for female participation in sport at all levels and for 2024, an additional €2 million will be made available under the Women in sport programme, doubling the funding under this programme.
An additional €1m in Government funding is also being provided for high-performance sport next year, which will support Team Ireland as they prepare for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games as well as assisting with the continued development of coaching and pathways support.
With regard to capital assistance, the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP) is the primary vehicle for Government support for the development of sports and recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment throughout the country. Over 13,000 projects have now benefited from sports capital funding since 1998, bringing the total allocations in that time to over €1.15 billion. The Programme for Government commits to continuing the SCEP and to prioritising the investment in disadvantaged areas.
Recognition of the increasing pressures sports clubs face was reflected in the significant additional grants allocated under the last round of the SCEP (2020). Under that round alone, €166.6 million was allocated – the highest level of funding for any single round of the Programme to date. All allocations under the SCEP including those since 2020 can be found at www.gov.ie/en/collection/471ed5-sports-capital-allocations/.
With regard to future allocations, the 2023 round of the SCEP closed for applications on Friday 8 September. Work is now underway on finalising the "Scoring System and Assessment Manual" for the 2023 round and I hope to have this published shortly. Once published, the detailed assessment work can commence. In this regard, it is planned to assess the "Equipment-only" applications first with a view to announcing these grants in the coming months. Work will then commence on the assessment of the capital applications with the allocations likely to be announced later in 2024. Once all allocations are finalised, an announcement will be made in relation to the next call for proposals.
In addition to the SCEP, the National Sports Policy which was published in 2018 provided for a new Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The aim of the fund is to provide Exchequer support for larger sports projects and facilities where the required Exchequer investment is greater than the maximum amount available under the SCEP. In terms of the initial allocations, approximately €86.4 million was awarded to 33 different proposals.
The first LSSIF allocations were announced just prior to the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic obviously gave rise to significant financial challenges for all grantees with many of them having to reprioritise their own expenditure plans due to reductions in their income streams. In more recent times, the high level of construction inflation has also presented considerable challenges for grantees.
Minister Martin and I recently announced additional funding amounting to a total of €37.6 million, with 27 existing LSSIF projects benefitting, bringing the total awarded to date to Large Scale Sport Infrastructure funded projects to €124 million. The additional funding for projects is being provided, in response to delays experienced by grantees arising from the pandemic and construction inflation, following engagement with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.
It was also confirmed recently that a new round of the Large-Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund will open for applications in the first half of 2024, with the dates, terms and conditions to be published on the Department’s website in due course.
