Seanad debates
Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Sport and Recreational Development
1:00 pm
Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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I was not aware we had the wonderful Minister of State in front of us. I want to acknowledge the kind words the Cathaoirleach said. The Minister of State is a great ambassador for politics. I think he first ran for election in November 1982 and he is now a junior Minister. I am delighted to have him here.
I am bringing this issue of where we are going regarding athletics in County Cork to this forum this afternoon. This is a really important issue. We need get an understanding of how we can make sure athletics in Cork can be protected. We have a bizarre situation at the moment, in that there is no 400 m track available in the county. We also have a scenario where the Mardyke is now permanently closed due to issues with the track. The old track in the Munster Technological University, MTU, is permanently closed with no timeline as to when it will be brought into action.
There are 55 athletics clubs in County Cork, with 8,400 athletes competing. They have no track to train on or compete on at the moment. I believe the county championships for County Cork will have to be held in Kerry. Some people are now going to Limerick or Waterford to train because we do not have a suitable arena to cater for our athletes who are doing so much.
Not even that, we have international, high-performance athletes who cannot actually train in County Cork at the moment either because we do not have a 400 m track. It is absolutely bizarre. I am sure Members of this House and people looking in are thinking it is strange that a county the size of Cork, with more that 500,000 people, does not have a suitable track to train on.
As a result of that, I raise the case of what is happening in Bandon, particularly Bandon Athletic Club. This is a fantastic club, one of the biggest in Ireland and with an unbelievable track record. I have to mention two people in particular, Billy Good and Catherine Duggan, who did so much over the past few years. Poor Billy is no longer with us. It really is an area and a population that needs to see this track developed. They have done so much work in a very short space of time. They got a grant of €20,000 from Cork County Council and a sports capital grant of €290,000 in 2020. I visited the track in the last few weeks. Literally, all it needs is an injection of cash from the Government to make sure this track is completed and we will have what we rightly need, which is a suitable track for everyone to compete and train on.
At the moment, we have a crisis in Cork when it comes to athletics tracks. They do not exist. We need to find a plan. Bandon is up an running, literally. Please pardon the pun. We just need to finish it. The only way we can do so is to find emergency funding to be put in place to finish this unique project, which the community and the entire west Cork regions wants to have finished.
This is a suitable opportunity for the Government to step in and deliver the pot of money that is required. Otherwise, we will have the bizarre scenario of large numbers of people from County Cork travelling every weekend to Kerry, Limerick and Waterford to go training. It does not make sense. To think that the county championships are now going to be held in Kerry is absolutely bizarre.
We need intervention here. I am calling on the Minister with responsibility for sport to look at the pot of money that is available. There is an awful lot of money that has not been drawn down from the sports capital grant. This could be looked at regarding putting a special fund in place. If we do not, we will have a year with no running in this county. Not having a track available is simply unacceptable. We all talk about mental health and well-being and we want to encourage people to get outside after a terrible winter. We need to get funding for this, if we possibly can.
Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Senator. I congratulate the Minister of State on his elevation and wish him the best of luck in his new role.
Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Acting Chair. I thank the Cathaoirleach and Senator Lombard for their kind comments. I want to reassure people that this is not just for people from Cork. When I heard the Cathaoirleach earlier, I thought it was purely for people from Cork. I hope Senator Clonan did not feel excluded from the conversation.
Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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We are always excluded from conversations about Cork.
Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Lombard for raising this matter. I am here on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, to respond and provide an update.
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. Grants are available to: voluntary, not-for-profit sports clubs and community groups; national governing bodies of sport, NGBs; and local authorities. Third level colleges, education and training boards, ETBs, and schools may apply for funding provided that they do so jointly with external sports clubs or community organisations.
More than 13,000 projects have benefited from sports capital funding since 1998. The total allocation during that period stands at more than €1.15 billion. The programme for Government contains a commitment to continuing the SCEP and prioritising investment in disadvantaged areas. The 2020 round of the SCEP attracted 3,106 applications, with a total of €166.6 million allocated. Bandon Athletic Club has drawn down almost all of its allocation of €290,000 under that programme. I commend all associated with the club on their work. It was huge effort on a community and voluntary basis by members of the club.
The latest round of the SCEP - that is, for 2023 - closed for applications on Friday, 8 September 2023 and generated a record number of 3,210 applications. There are more than 350 applications from County Cork alone, seeking €40.5 million in total. In respect of athletics in Cork, applications have been received from Bandon Athletic Club, Bweeng Community Hall and Grounds CLG, Carraig na bhFear Athletic Club, Carrigaline Rugby and Athletics Partnership Company Limited, Munster Technological University - the athletics track facility, Durrus Athletic Club, Muinefliuch National School and St. Catherine’s Athletic Club.
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 equipment-only applications have been assessed first. I understand that the Minister and the Minister of State plan to announce these grants in the coming weeks. Work will then commence on assessing the capital applications, with the allocations to be announced later in the year.
Separately, the national sports policy, published in 2018, provided for the establishment of the large scale sport infrastructure fund, known as LSSIF. The aim of the fund is to provide support for large sports facilities where the Exchequer investment is greater than the maximum amount available under the SCEP. In December, the Minister and the Minister of State announced additional funding amounting to €37.6 million to 27 existing LSSIF projects, bringing the total awarded to date under the fund to €124 million. This additional funding for projects was provided in response to delays experienced by grantees arising from the pandemic and construction inflation.
One of the largest projects funded to date under the LSSIF is the Athletics Ireland and Munster Technological University - formerly Cork Institute of Technology - community sport project for the development of: an arena, phase 1; track upgrade, phase 2; and a high-performance athletic centre, phase 3, on the Bishopstown, Cork campus of the university. The project was awarded LSSIF moneys of €9.225 million in January 2020. It was awarded additional funding of €5.094 million in December of last year, bringing the total allocation for this project under the LSSIF to €14.3 million for all three phases. Phase 1 has been completed. Phase 2, the track upgrade, is due to be completed this summer. Preparatory work on phase 3 is progressing.A new round of the LSSIF will open for applications in the first half of 2024, with the dates, terms and conditions to be confirmed in the coming weeks. While the LSSIF programme is aimed primarily at the sports NGBs and the local authorities, it is also open to other bodies, philanthropic funders, clubs and voluntary organisations to apply. However, such applications would necessarily have to be made and prioritised by a local authority, a governing body, or both.
Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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We need a viable solution for the athletics crisis in County Cork at the moment. That solution can be provided by Bandon Athletic Club, which has done all the preparation work and all the ground work, including kerbing. The provision of an injection of cash to put the actual track in place would mean we would have a track this summer. Unfortunately, if we do not have that, more than 8,000 people will have to travel outside the county. There is no real acknowledgement within the Department of the crisis we have at the moment. High performance athletes cannot train in County Cork at the moment because of the lack of a track. This is a unique situation. We have a unique solution. It is in the hands of the Minister to deliver it. If not, we will have a bizarre situation whereby our county championships will be held in County Kerry, our high performance athletes will have to train in Dublin, and the solution that is on the table, namely Bandon Athletic Club, will have to sit there for another round of funding. I appeal to the Minister of State. We need to do something special because this is going to involve 8,500 people who want to get out on the track. It is a no-brainer.
Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I note the Senator's comments. I will certainly pass them back. As I said, I am here on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne. I will certainly pass those comments back to them. I take on board the Senator's concerns about the non-availability of facilities. The Government recently agreed revised capital allocations under the national development plan, NDP, totalling €2.25 billion out to 2026. The additional allocations of capital funding for the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media up to 2026 will support key projects and programmes under the NDP such as the sports capital and equipment programme. The revised NDP capital allocations for the Department will allow for significant funding of the 2023 round of the sports capital programme. The Minister, Deputy Martin, and Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, will confirm the overall allocation for the next round of sports capital and equipment programme in the near future in the context of the ongoing assessment of the applications, which is currently under way. The Department’s capital allocations will also allow for a meaningful round 2 of the large-scale sports infrastructure programme. I note that the Minister and the Minister of State encourage all eligible sporting organisations, including the club under discussion, to consider whether an application under LSSIF would be appropriate.
Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome Terry Leyden, a former Senator, to the House. He is in and out in half a minute and is very welcome today.