Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

What happens is that there is an allocation every year for sports capital. That covers the existing sports capital fund. Projects like the one in Wexford receive sports capital funding. When organisations seek to draw down the grant they have been awarded, it comes from that money. At the end of last year, extra funding was put into that, but that was to cover existing grants to make sure they would all obviously be paid out, as the Government had promised. Therefore, that extra funding was for the existing grants. It often happens at the end of a year that money is put in simply for administrative purposes. It was to make sure it happened last year rather than this year.

What I said remains the case. The funding for the next round of sports capital is still under negotiation. The money we have at the moment is in respect of grants already awarded. We are discussing with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, what the needs are for the sports capital programme in the coming years. As I said, however, if we announce a sports capital programme this year, the vast majority of grants will not be drawn down until at least probably two years' time. Every year is different depending on when the sports grants are announced. In the first year, it is probably approximately 10%. It goes up a bit then in terms of the overall amount every year and starts coming down. It really just depends on when we announce it. I would expect that after we announce the grants this year, there will have to be an increase next year. We will see how that goes.

The swimming pool fund is a very specific fund that really does not exist anymore. The swimming pool fund was from approximately 20 years ago. Three swimming pools in Buncrana, Edenderry and Lucan were granted money sometime back in the 2000s and they have an entitlement to funding. That figure relates to them. That money has not been drawn down in some years, but it is there as a subhead to make sure it is available if one of them comes looking for it. As I understand it, Lucan is progressing, for example, although a bit more slowly than we would like. I have certainly contacted one of the local TDs in Edenderry since I was appointed to see how we can activate this because the grant is sitting there. In terms of swimming pools into the future, they are really under the LSSIF. Therefore, if any local authority or Swim Ireland or someone wants to build a swimming pool, they would apply under the LSSIF, not that fund. That fund has already been earmarked for years. It is not a discretionary fund. We would definitely invite swimming proposals to come in under the LSSIF. We hope to announce that soon enough. Again, the discussions are ongoing about that.

I was really glad to be down at the centre of excellence in Wexford, which the Deputy was at as well. I congratulate Wexford GAA, Wexford LGFA and Wexford Camogie, which came together to put a centre of excellence in place. They came together, and not just in terms of access, which I have been talking about because we need to make sure there is similar access for men and women. That is a new rule I brought into sports capital and the LSSIF. They also came together in terms of the administration of the place and the fundraising. That is really welcome. Quite honestly, we have a rule now in the LSSIF that there must be similar access for men and women. If the three organisations are not coming together, they will be at a disadvantage to those that are coming together. I cannot pre-empt any particular grant applications, but I think it is the way to go. I hear of other GAA organisations opening centres of excellence. A pitch for women on a Wednesday night or the small back pitch for women is not going to cut it. Organisations should look at what Wexford did because it is a great template. I really want to congratulate them.