John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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326. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to outline all of the funding streams that are available to any sports club wishing to embark on a development project that is in excess of €500,000 excluding land purchase; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7434/24]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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The Department operates two capital funding programmes for sport, namely the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP) and the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). Both of these capital programmes are demand-driven.

The SCEP is the government’s primary vehicle for providing support to sports clubs and communities to develop sports infrastructure around the country. The latest round of the SCEP 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 exceeded the record number submitted in the previous round. Applicants under SCEP for local projects under the latest round were able to apply for up to €200,000, increased from the previous maximum grant of €150,000. The maximum valid grant available for projects deemed to be of regional significance was increased from €300,000 to €500,000. 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.

Separately, the National Sports Policy published in 2018 provided for the establishment of the LSSIF. The aim of the fund is to provide support for larger sports facilities where the Exchequer investment is greater than the maximum amount available under the SCEP. 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 due course. While the LSSIF programme is aimed primarily at the National Governing Bodies of Sport and local authorities it was 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 and/or a Governing Body. I would encourage all eligible projects to consider applying for this competitive application process when it opens later this year.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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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 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.