Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The previous Government, under the leadership of the Taoiseach, introduced an important grant scheme, the large scale sport infrastructure fund. It was a welcome innovation by the Taoiseach and the then Minister with responsibility for sport, Shane Ross. It involved an initial capital allocation of more than €100 million. As the Taoiseach is aware, many sports clubs and organisations around the country are looking to build large-scale facilities but with a cap of €300,000 on funding available under the sports capital and equipment programme, many of these major projects simply cannot go ahead. Several projects were allocated funding under the large scale sport infrastructure fund in January 2020 and I welcome the money that was allocated to projects in my constituency of Galway West. Those projects included the redevelopment of the Sportsground in Galway city by Connacht Rugby, the Galway regional aquatic centre and the Renville sports and community centre facilities in Oranmore, which I was delighted to see getting full planning permission from An Bord Pleanála in recent weeks.

The fund was very much welcomed by all the major sporting organisations. It was endorsed by the GAA, the IRFU, the FAI and many others. However, the fund has effectively been stalled since these allocations were announced more than three years ago. I firmly believe there is a real need for it to be reintroduced. It may sound obvious but international studies have shown that the presence of good sports facilities is associated with the participation in physical activity and improved health among the general public as a result. These facilities also serve to bring communities together. The country needs such a scheme to be operational again. Will the Taoiseach and his Government seriously consider the reintroduction of a large scale sport infrastructure fund in the forthcoming negotiations on the next budget?

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