Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
716. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the present status of an application under the large scale sports infrastructure fund (details supplied); whether a further announcement will be made in relation to this application; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1227/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe application to which the Deputy refers has been made under the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP) rather than the Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF).
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 investment in disadvantaged areas.
The latest round of the SCEP (2023) closed for applications on Friday 8 September. A preliminary examination of the submitted applications demonstrates that the Programme has again generated a very large number of applications, including one from the organisation to which the Deputy refers, and it is evident that the total number will exceed the previous record of 3,106 applications submitted under the last (2020) round.
The "Scoring Assessment and Assessment Manual" for the 2023 round has been finalised and I hope to have this published shortly. Simultaneously, I also plan to publish the full list of all applications received by county including the relevant sport type for each application received. Once these documents are published, the detailed assessment work can commence. In this regard, it is planned to assess the "equipment-only" applications first and announce these grants in the coming months. Work will then commence on assessing the capital applications with the allocations likely to be announced later in 2024.
It should be noted that all future funding for capital investment will be conditional on men and women having similar access to the facility.
