Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his positive response. It is great to hear that the programme will reopen soon. The sum of €40 million, an increase from last year, is a great resource for which the clubs can apply.

As we enter into the new process, I wish to ask about the lessons learned from the last one, and the sore and contentious issue of those clubs whose applications were deemed invalid. I discussed this with the Minister of State privately, and he shared my frustrations. Those decisions were disappointing for clubs that invested a great deal of time and effort in filling out the applications. It is hard on the individuals who volunteered to do that and who sometimes gets caught in the middle, along with the local politician, and is blamed for something falling through. At times, that can be because of a technical point. We need a system whereby if a club's application is deemed invalid, it is told early on and given a brief opportunity to rectify it, and the error is either sorted or it is not. We should not drag them through the process, not knowing until the last day when everyone else's result is announced. In particular, I refer to two clubs in Kildare South whose applications were deemed invalid in 2017 - Cill Dara Rugby Football Club, with which the Ceann Comhairle will be familiar, and Clogherinkoe GAA club. I hope they will be facilitated in the new process, taking into account the difficult process they went through last year.

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