Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Ring, sends his regrets. He is in Milan promoting the launch of the Giro d'Italia and I am representing him today.

All applications received under the 2014 sports capital programme will be assessed by my officials in the Department. Every application will be assessed by one official and then reviewed by another member of staff. Given the number of applications received and the detail contained therein, this process will take a number of months.

Applications are first checked to ensure eligibility, and eligible applications are than initially assessed against five criteria: the likelihood of increasing participation and-or improving performance and sharing of facilities; the level of socioeconomic disadvantage in the area; the technical merits of the project; the level of own funding available; and the level of sports capital programme funding received by the applicant in the past, with the preference for those who have not received funding. These criteria are designed to give higher scores to applications that will increase participation, where facilities will be shared, that are from designated disadvantaged areas, that is, RAPID areas and CLÁR areas, that have not received substantial funding in the past and are ready to be progressed as soon as possible.

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