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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 9, 16, 21, 47, 49, 52, 61, 65, 68 and 70 together.

The sports capital and equipment programme is the primary vehicle for the Government support for the development of sports and recreation facilities and for the purchase of non-personal sports equipment throughout the country. More than 13,000 projects have now benefited from the sports capital and equipment programme since 1998, bringing the total allocation to more than €1.1 billion. The programme for Government commits to continuing the sports capital and equipment programme and to prioritising investment in disadvantaged areas.

The 2020 round closed for applications on 1 March 2021. By that date in excess 3,000 applications had been submitted, seeking more than €200 million in funding. This is the highest number of applications ever received. The scoring system and assessment procedures were finalised and published prior to assessment work commencing. All applications were assessed in accordance with these procedures. All of the improvements that were introduced to recent rounds of the programme to make the process as user-friendly as possible were maintained for this round. These included giving applicants a second chance to submit corrected documentation. The full scoring system can be viewed on the sports capital website.

Approximately 1,000 of the submitted applications were for equipment-only projects. These applications were assessed first. Grants with a total value of €16.6 million were announced on 6 August 2021. The remaining capital applications were then assessed and 1,865 grant offers, with total value in excess of €143.8 million, were announced in the last two weeks on Friday, 11 February 2022. As with recent rounds of the programme, the total funding available to allocate for each county was based on the population and the level of demand for that county. The top scoring applications in every county received the full, valid amount applied for. The remaining applications were allocated a grant that was based on their score and the amount sought, while applications in the bottom scoring 5% of applications in any county received no more than 75% of the amount sought. Details of all applications that were submitted in the 2020 round can be viewed on gov.ie.

All valid capital applications received a grant offer. All allocations can also be viewed on a county basis on the same site. My Department will shortly be in touch with all successful applicants via the Department's online system, OSCAR, formally notifying them of their provisional grant application. These notifications will set out the next steps required to obtain formal approval of their grant. When work is complete and grantees can show proof of payment, my Department will then process any grant drawdown requests.

My Department will also be in contact with all applicants whose applications were deemed invalid. There are currently 243 such invalid capital applications. All unsuccessful applicants will have the opportunity to appeal the Department's decision. Full details of the appeals procedure will issue to these organisations very shortly. Of the record €150 million made available to capital projects, €6 million has been kept in reserve for any successful appeals lodged by unsuccessful applicants. When the appeals process is complete, a full review of the 2020 round of the sports capital and equipment programme will be undertaken. Any recommendations contained therein will be included in the terms and conditions of the next round. The precise timing of this next round of the programme will be announced once this review is completed.

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