Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 February 2024
327. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the progress being made regarding evaluation of grant applications under the sports capital programme; if it is her intention to deal with applications for sporting equipment first; if so, the timeline for this and when the remaining applications will be dealt with; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7487/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe 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 latest round of the SCEP (2023) closed for applications on Friday 8 September, 2023. A preliminary examination of the submitted applications demonstrates that the Programme has again generated a very large number of applications. The total number of 3,210 applications exceeds the record number submitted under the last (2020) round.
The "Scoring System and Assessment Manual" for the 2023 round has been finalised and published along with a list of all applications received by county including the relevant sport type for each application received. The detailed assessment work has commenced and 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 to be announced later.
