Dáil debates

Tuesday, 27 November 2012

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions

Sports Capital Programme

2:30 pm

Photo of Timmy DooleyTimmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in view of the large number of applications for the sports capital grant and the relatively small budget available, if he has had to change the allocation criteria used in 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52912/12]

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The question relates to the allocation criteria for the sports capital programme and changes since the last sports capital round in 2008. Responsibility for the sports capital programme has been delegated to the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring. However, he is unable to attend the House today as he is in Brussels attending the European Council of Sports Ministers.

As the Deputy will be aware, there is phenomenal interest in this round of the sports capital programme, the first such round since 2008. A total of €30 million has been allocated to the programme in this round, with €26 million to be allocated to local projects and €4 million to regional projects.

With regard to the local projects, as the Deputy will be aware, funding under the sports capital programme is assessed on a county by county basis. Previous rounds were the subject of considerable public disquiet as the allocations between counties did not have a clear rationale. Between 1998 and 2010, a total of €136 per person was provided in sports capital funding across the country. However, the allocations to individual counties varied significantly. While the best performing county received €196 in sports funding per capita, other counties received a little over half of that amount. However, in order to ensure fairness, the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, has decided that funding will be allocated on a per capita basis to each county, with a weighting for past performance. Based on their historical performance since 1998, a weighting of between 90% and 120% will be applied to the per capita allocations to determine how much funding should be provided for each county. This is, of course, based on there being sufficient eligible projects within each county.

With regard to allocations within each county, every valid application is initially assessed and then receives a score based on a set of published criteria. These criteria are published on my Department’s website and include the extent to which the project will increase the levels of participation or improve performance, especially among women and older citizens; the level of socio-economic disadvantage in the area; the technical merits and financial viability; the extent to which applicant will be able to maintain the completed project; whether the facilities will be shared; and the level of sports capital programme or other Government funding previously received.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

Two criteria have been added since 2008 - those relating to the sharing of facilities and previous Government funding. In deciding the final allocations of funding to projects within each county the Minister of State and I will have regard to the following: the performance of each application during the assessment process; ensuring a geographic spread of projects within each county; ensuring an appropriate spread of projects between rural and urban areas within each county; and ensuring there is a spread of projects among different sports.

In respect of regional projects, there are four additional criteria analysed in the initial assessment. They are priority as identified by the relevant national governing body of sport; priority as identified by the Irish Sports Council; the location of the facility within the network of national, regional and municipal multi-sports facilities; and linkages with the local authorities' swimming pools programme. This criterion applies to municipal multi-sports facilities applications only.

Photo of Timmy DooleyTimmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I have received what I consider to be troubling information from councillors around the country who have been informed by some clubs in their respective areas that they are not on the favoured list. They seem to have information that is not readily available. I understand from at least one club that it has been told by the local Fine Gael councillor that it has not met the criteria but that he will make an extra effort on its behalf. I was inclined not to believe what I was being told. However, one day I happened to be on Kildare Street and saw a procession of Fine Gael backbenchers en route to the Minister's office. This may have been a coincidence; they may not have been lobbying.

Photo of Derek KeatingDerek Keating (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy never lost it.

Photo of Michael KittMichael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Order, please.

Photo of Timmy DooleyTimmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Minister to inform the House as to the level of contacts or the number of meetings that have taken place-----

(Interruptions).

Photo of Michael KittMichael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Please, Deputies; this is Deputy Timmy Dooley's question.

Photo of Timmy DooleyTimmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister inform the House the number of meetings he has had with members of his own party or the Labour Party on the subject of sports capital grants in the period since the applications were submitted? I ask him to provide the House with these details and also to give details of other individuals or delegations involved. Such information would be helpful.

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As there is no prohibition on lobbying, people are free to lobby if they so wish. I have received letters from all parties, including the Deputy's. I would need to check my diary, but off the top of my head, I have not had any such meeting. The Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, is handling this matter on my behalf and that of the Department. He is the person who has attended most of these meetings. Councillors and others should not be in possession of any information because the scheme prohibits communication of that nature.

A considerable number of applications are ineligible either because there are no matching funds or because the applicant has no planning permission or does not own the land on which it is proposed to build. One of the difficulties with the scheme is that a very large number of applicants were ineligible in the first instance and consequently could not be given any grants. There is a precedent for Ministers taking the initiative to grant funds to ineligible applicants but that will not be happening on this occasion.

2:40 pm

Photo of Timmy DooleyTimmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I can understand the ineligibility criteria and am aware of clubs that were rightly deemed ineligible and informed to that effect. I am not talking about ineligible clubs but about clubs that appeared to have met all the stated criteria, both on cursory and more detailed investigation. I am aware, however, of at least two cases in which a Fine Gael councillor told one club money would be delivered and another, while trying to sooth its pain, that it would not. This is less than transparent and less than helpful, particularly at a time when the Government is trying to carry out a loaves-and-fishes exercise with a much smaller budget. I do not question the Government's bona fides but ask the Minister to examine this to try to understand it and publish a list of the meetings that have taken place between him and his backbench colleagues. Such a list would be helpful. I ask the Minister to publish the diary.

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I cannot understand how that can be the case because no allocations have been made or signed off on. People may well find out that they have been made promises that cannot be delivered upon but no allocations have been made at this stage.

Photo of Timmy DooleyTimmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I have no problem where there is written evidence; I am trying to obtain a picture of what occurs in private meetings.