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

Our solidarity, across Government and all Departments and agencies, goes out to the Ukrainian people after the shocking invasion we have seen overnight. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, has spoken this morning, as has the Taoiseach. All aspects of Government will be supporting the Ukrainian people and providing a humanitarian approach, where possible, but also working with our European partners on responding properly. There will be further meetings later today.

The football associations in the UK and Ireland recently indicated their intention to bid to host jointly the UEFA championships in 2028. Ireland was due to host part of the 2020 iteration of those championships. The Department worked closely with the Football Association of Ireland, FAI, in bidding for and preparing to host and I am well aware of the significance and scale of the tournament and what a positive experience it could be to host it jointly in 2028.

In terms of Government support for a potential bid to host the 2028 championships, while I and the Department are positively disposed to such a bid, we will need to have a clearer understanding of the costs and benefits of jointly hosting the event before committing to supporting a bid. To that end, the Department is engaging closely with the FAI to better evaluate the case for bidding for Euro 2028 and no commitments have been made at this point.

With regard to the Deputy's question about wider investment in sport facilities, my Department operates two schemes which provide grant assistance to sports organisations for the development and improvement of both sports stadia and facilities generally. The sports capital and equipment programme, SCEP, is the primary vehicle for Government support, with €1.1 billion being invested since 1998 and the programme for Government is committed to continuing to prioritise that investment, especially in disadvantaged areas.

In the 2020 round, there were more than 3,000 applications seeking more than €200 million in funding. On Friday, 11 February, the Minister, Deputy Martin, and I, announced 1,865 individual grant offers with a total value of more than €143.8 million.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

Of this amount, almost €22 million or 15% of the funding was allocated to soccer. Tolka Park stadium has benefited from a number of SCEP grants previously and any future applications would be considered in line with the relevant scoring system and assessment procedures.

Funding is also provided by my Department to sports organisations under the largescale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF. The LSSIF is designed for projects where the grant sought is greater than the maximum available under the SCEP. The first allocations under the LSSIF were announced in January 2020 and, thus far, approximately €86.4 million has been awarded to 33 different proposals.

Dublin City Council made an application under the LSSIF for a grant towards the design work associated with the redevelopment of Dalymount Park.

A provisional grant of €918,750 was announced in January 2020 towards the overall design cost, at that time estimated at €2.45 million. The actual cost of design work is now expected to be €1,357,757 to which an amount of €509,199 will be contributed by the LSSIF.

While the priority in the short term is to advance all of the successful projects, as it is now two years since the first allocations were made and in view of the issues faced by grantees as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was considered timely to review progress on all projects allocated grants. My Department has now met with all successful grantees and work is at an advanced stage in drafting the review. I expect this work to be finalised shortly. Once that review is complete, the scope for awarding any additional grants, adjusting the level of existing grants and the timing of any new call for proposals will be considered.

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