Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State's response. As the Minister of State said, in 2020 the large-scale sports infrastructure fund awarded over €86 million to 33 projects across Ireland. This was a very welcome innovation by the Government at the time and ensured that many clubs and sporting organisations were able to develop ambitious plans to improve sporting facilities and increase access for all ages, groups and ability levels.

Many sports clubs and organisations around the country are looking to build large-scale facilities but with a cap of €200,000 on funding available under the sports capital and equipment programme unfortunately, many projects simply cannot go ahead as the shortfall between funding available and fundraising capacity is just too great. Given that the Government has set a target of increasing the percentage of people participating in sports from 40% to 60% by 2027, I would ask that the Government would seriously consider introducing a new large-scale sports infrastructure fund.

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