Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 79, 84, 86, 91 and 94 together.

I thank all Deputies who have raised this issue, and I know Sinn Féin tabled a question on this earlier. On the previous question, a Sinn Féin Deputy was looking for the scheme to be abolished, although, in fairness, he had other proposals so I am not going to entirely disrespect that. Nonetheless, we are not going to abolish it or change it. It is a great scheme. It gives funding to clubs that use it within communities, which is very important.

The review is basically complete and I intend to publish it shortly, and there was a meeting last week to finalise the review. Any recommendations from the review will be reflected in the next round. Officials are engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, and the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and myself are engaging with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe. Once this process is concluded, as is normal with any capital spending of this nature, I will announce the exact dates from which new applications will be accepted. With regard to the funding available to allocate, I will continue to engage with colleagues to maximise the total funding available for programming in the year ahead. Clearly, the level of demand is a key determinant but every effort will be made to fund as many worthwhile projects as possible while providing a sufficient level of grant to ensure projects are viable.

The issues of disadvantage, equality and participation, and the issues of population increase and lack of facilities in certain areas, are all important for the sports capital programme. In the previous programme, clubs in every constituency did very well, and it was not just the clubs that did well but also the communities they serve.

We are going to have a summer of strong interest in women's sport in particular. I hope and expect that will lead to an increase in female participation in sport, which is going to put pressure on facilities, and we have to rise to that challenge, as do NGBs and the clubs themselves. That will probably be a particularly important focus in the sports capital programme this year. We will let the Deputies know when we have made a final decision.

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