Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be here to discuss the sports capital programme, and I know the committee is also looking at funding for minority sports in the later session. I am joined by the Minister of State with responsibility for tourism and sport, Deputy Brendan Griffin; the assistant secretary with responsibility for tourism and sport, Mr. Ken Spratt, Mr. Noel Sheahan from the sports capital programme division and Mr. James Lavelle from the sports policy division in my Department. There has been a lot of focus on the sports capital programme in recent weeks and I hope that we can put the facts of the matter on the record of the committee today.

I am going to ask the Minister of State, Deputy Griffin, to now outline the background to the sports capital programme and some of the key improvements we introduced to the most recent round of the programme. I will then speak about the appeals process and our future plans for sports capital investment.