Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy. He has been a strong advocate, as has the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, for sports capital development and for backing clubs in his constituency. We are preparing to reopen to new applications for the community sports facility fund by the end of spring with the objective of making funding announcements by the end of next year.

The recent pattern has generally been a round every two years. The 2024 round saw record funding of about €270 million in total. Over 3,000 clubs across the country benefited from it. The round before that was about €160 million, so there has been a significant step change. The round two years before that was in double digits, around €80 million. That is a reflection of where the Government has gone to back the ambition of clubs and organisations across the country to develop sporting facilities. We are really ramping it up and we are seeing the benefit of it everywhere in terms of improved facilities. They are needed. We are seeing improved participation in sport across all age groups and massive efforts are being put in by the clubs and volunteers in terms of facilitating people and giving opportunities. Of course, that puts pressure on facilities. There is barely a club you could visit that is not under pressure for space and capacity. It is important we continue to support that effort and that is what we will do next year. We are completing a review of the outgoing sports capital - our community sports facility fund round - in relation to how it worked to make sure when we open it up next time around it is as practical as possible for clubs to apply and benefit from it. The objective is to have that ready to be opened by the end of spring.

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