Dáil debates

Thursday, 11 June 2020

Covid-19 (Sport): Statements

 

11:20 pm

Photo of Shane RossShane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to answer those questions, particularly the one in which she specifically referred to two private schools. The Deputy is absolutely correct. Two private schools were each given grants of €150,000. First, as I have stated previously when the Deputy raised has raised this matter, under the weightings that were in place at that time, every local club in every constituency in Dublin got the maximum amount if its application was valid, so it did not prove to be contentious. Second, there has been a misunderstanding recently - I do not whether it is deliberate - that the Minister moves around and makes funny decisions about these grants. In those particular cases - exactly the same happened this year - the grants and the appeals were referred to the various Ministers as recommended by the civil servants. It did not happen always in previous years that Ministers refused to introduce an element of discretion for themselves. In the past two rounds, at no stage did I ever use my discretion in terms of the sports capital grants.

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