Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Future development plans for the facility referred to by the Deputy are a matter in the first instance for Dublin City Council as the owners of the stadium. In terms of my role, my Department provides grant assistance for sporting facilities through the sports capital and equipment programme, SCEP, and the large scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF.

Under the SCEP, grants of up to €300,000 are available to community organisations, sports clubs, national governing bodies of sport and local authorities. The stadium referred to by the Deputy received a provisional allocation of €71,000 under the 2018 round of the programme but this has yet to be drawn down.

The latest round of the SCEP closed for applications on 1 March. Assessment work is continuing on other grants. The national sports policy published in 2018 provided for the establishment of the LSSIF. The aim of the fund is to provide support for larger sports facilities where the Exchequer investment is greater than the maximum amount available under the SCEP. The national development plan provided a capital allocation of at least €100 million and approximately €86 million has been allocated of which €918,750 was awarded to Dublin City Council towards the design cost for the redevelopment of Dalymount stadium. It is proposed that the redeveloped Dalymount Park will be home to both Bohemian FC and Shelbourne FC. As the Deputy will be aware, Shelbourne FC are the current main users of the Tolka Park facility.

While it is not proposed to open the LSSIF for new applications at present, we are undertaking a review of the LSSIF which is expected to be complete in the near future. This will look to progress on all existing grants and the timing of a new call for proposals will also be considered.

Among the key considerations in the assessment of any applications is the likelihood of increasing participation including female participation, how projects will cater for disadvantaged users and whether the proposed facility will be shared with other users or sports. I am committed to continued investment in our sport infrastructure in the years ahead and any future application for funding for the stadium referred to by the Deputy under either the SCEP or LSSIF will be considered on its own merits in line with the relevant assessment criteria.

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