Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

In the national sports policy, we outlined an aim to double Exchequer funding for sport by 2027. In this regard, it is my firm belief that money spent on sport should be viewed as an investment that will reap a variety of dividends over a long period for all communities.

In the first half of the ten-year lifespan of the national sports policy, there has been clear progress in sports funding, and we are well on track to achieve our target. In budget 2024, the Government announced an overall budget allocation of €183.3 million for sport in 2024. When the national sports policy was published in 2018, the budget for sport was €111 million.

Finally, more than 13,000 projects have benefited from sports capital funding since 1998, bringing the total allocation in that time to more than €1.15 billion. From the Government's perspective, if we are to achieve our ambitious targets and get as many people participating in sport as possible, we need the necessary facilities that are currently being provided under the SCP and LSSIF. Similarly, if we are to develop elite sportspeople, we need to invest at grassroots level, and it is at grassroots level that clubs such as Sligo Rovers develop players - men and women, boys and girls - who can go forward and onto national teams, and perhaps overseas as well. It is hugely important that Sligo Rovers continues its really good work in respect of inclusion and participation, and the really exciting developments at The Showgrounds, which are going to be important and valuable for football in this country and not just for the Sligo region.

I welcome this next round of LSSIF funding, and I hope that Sligo Rovers will be in a position to apply when the grant rounds are announced.

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