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

The Deputies have all raised issues that are dear to my heart and, I am sure, dear to the heart of the Minister. A lot of work has been done over recent weeks in discussing with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, what the outlook will be. I think the outlook will be positive but I caution that there is a lot of work to do in the Department on the assessment of applications. The most important priority is disadvantage. We will not forget that. The disadvantaged clubs are the ones that need the funding more than any others. This goes back to the scoring system issue raised by Deputy Durkan. Clubs that have never applied will get an advantage in the scoring system, which is publicly available. It is a transparent process. I have added increased population as a factor in that regard. That is being worked out between the Department and Pobal as well.

The proposed swimming pool in Maynooth is not in my constituency, but I am happy to say that many of my constituents would benefit if there were a swimming pool in Maynooth. The key point is that would be a large-scale sports infrastructure funded project. Kildare County Council would have to apply for that funding. I strongly encourage Deputy Durkan to talk to the council about that project. We will open the large-scale sport infrastructure fund in the coming weeks. That project will have to be prioritised for my Department to consider it.

On Deputy Brendan Smith's question, we see clubs as the lifeblood of communities in small rural areas. That is very important and we will never forget it. Many of those rural areas have disadvantaged status on Pobal maps, which is very important. We certainly will not forget that. Significant work is involved with all those volunteers.

Deputy Ó Murchú talked about Dundalk FC and a number of soccer and GAA clubs, in addition to boxing clubs in Dundalk. We certainly want to see football do well. We put huge effort in with the FAI last summer to encourage football clubs to apply. More football clubs applied than ever before and they are looking for a bigger share of the overall ask. I have no doubt that football clubs will do well. I only wish more of them applied to the sports capital fund.

Deputy Leddin mentioned various clubs and the equipment grants. Those grants will be announced in the coming weeks. He mentioned a number of clubs and soccer clubs in particular. We put significant effort into making sure soccer clubs applied because they did not always apply. However, that has changed this year. There is no doubt about that.

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