Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Applications are eagerly anticipated for the large-scale sports infrastructure fund by regional sporting organisations. I am trying to find out when the Minister expects this fund to open. Sport plays a huge role in people's lives and one such sports club is Sligo Rovers Football Club in my area. The Acting Chair will know how important it is to the community. It is a community-based football club with a long and proud history. It is one quarter-owned by the people of Sligo and is supported by people in Sligo, in the north west, from Sligo, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Donegal, and by people all over Ireland. Only last week I was asked by a man in Ennis, County Clare, to get him a Sligo Rovers hat. That is how football is appreciated around the country.

Sligo Rovers Football Club got the final grant of planning permission for a state-of-the-art stadium and related facilities. It is hoped all of these will be in place for the club's centenary in 2028. There is huge support from the local authority and the FAI. It will be a UEFA category 3 stadium. What that means is that there will be 6,000 multipurpose-seat stadium with a restaurant, pharmacy, crèche, gym, doctor's surgery, club house and offices. It is hoped it would host Republic of Ireland underage matches and when the League of Ireland has an off-season, it could be a location for provincial rugby matches given this new hybrid surface, which is 95% grass and 5% artificial.

Sligo Rovers Football Club is owned by the community and it is the cornerstone of the League of Ireland. I see what is happening in the capital city. Bohemians Football Club has a €40 million-plus development. It is getting public funding and Dublin City Council is very much part of that. Shamrock Rovers Football Club has a brand-new stadium that is effectively owned and run by South Dublin County Council. I do not begrudge those clubs their success.

We have a women's senior team in Sligo. We are fighting against the odds. I pay tribute to the players, supporters, volunteers and the wider community because it is a regional club. It is not privately-owned and it is one of the last fully-owned supporter's clubs in the country. When this fund is up and running, we want parity of esteem in the west and north west and we want public funding to match this incredible and exciting innovative development that will bring a lot of joy and hope to Sligo and the north west.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media operates two capital funding programmes for sport, namely, the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF, and the sports capital and equipment programme, SCEP. Both of these capital programmes are demand-driven and, as the Deputy can imagine, there is significant demand for them.

The national sports policy published in 2018 provided for the establishment of the LSSIF. The aim of the fund is to provide support for larger sports facilities where the Exchequer investment is greater than the maximum amount available under the SCEP. The first allocations under the large-scale sport infrastructure fund were announced in January 2020 with €86.4 million subsequently awarded to 33 different projects.

Additional funding of €37.6 million was announced for 27 existing LSSIF projects last December, due to delays experienced by grantees arising from the pandemic and construction inflation, bringing the total awarded to date under the fund to €124 million. Since June 2023, the following LSSIF projects have opened to the public: the linear walkway and playing fields project in Meath; phase 1 of Walsh Park GAA ground in Waterford; and the regional athletics hub in Limerick. A number of LSSIF projects are due to be completed this year or significantly progressed. For example, St. Conleth's Park GAA ground, Kildare, is due for completion later this year and will include a new 3,000-seater stand, while Connacht Rugby recently announced that enabling works have begun on its new high-performance centre and north stand.

Successful applicants to LSSIF were decided following a rigorous assessment process with the highest-scoring applications receiving grant offers. The priority given to projects by the relevant NGBs or local authorities was one of the key determinants of the assessment score along with factors such as the likelihood of increasing sport participation, how the proposed project would improve high performance and whether the proposed development would benefit spectators.

A new round of LSSIF, the Deputy will be glad to know, will open for applications in the coming months, with the dates, terms and conditions to be confirmed in due course. Engagement with the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform with regard to the Department's capital allocations for the coming years is ongoing and the outcome will inform the level of funding that will be available for allocation under the new round of LSSIF.

A fundamental aim of the Government’s national sports policy is to increase the levels of participation in sport and physical activity across the population, with a specific focus on less represented groups, including women and girls. A lot of good progress is being made, not just with regard to increasing participation by women and girls but also in the important areas of leadership and management roles in sport. It will be a requirement for all successful LSSIF applicants to publish their similar access policy, in respect of men and women having access to the facilities on similar terms in order for LSSIF funding to be awarded.

I understand that Sligo Rovers Football Club has received planning permission for the development of The Showgrounds. This was hugely welcome and a really significant step in the implementation process of the master plan for The Showgrounds redevelopment. As the Deputy said, it is a community-owned club and the community ethos in the region is very strong, very significant and hugely important to the club, players, management and all involved. I encourage all eligible projects to consider applying for this really competitive application process when it opens in the near future.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State, and I look forward to the application process. He said that the Government's fundamental aim in its national sports policy is to increase the levels of participation in sport and physical activity across the population. This has a specific focus on less represented groups, including women and girls. A lot of good progress has been made in Sligo, and I want to pay tribute to the women's and men's teams, and the many youth teams there.

We have seen a lot of funding going around the country, and I am delighted that the Minister of State mentioned playing fields in Meath, Walsh Park in Waterford, the regional athletics hub in Limerick, Connaught Rugby and St. Conleth's Park GAA ground. However, I am interested in Sligo, the west and north west, and I believe this project is and will be of huge benefit not just to Sligo but to the north west.

I pay tribute to all the supporters, players, volunteers, the wider community and especially the committee there. They are very professional, and I think the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach understands that. They would have a very professional application in because they believe they are of the community. I know, having served in the Department, that it wants good governance and data, and Sligo Rovers has that in abundance. I look forward to the opening of the LSSIF, and I also look forward to Sligo being successful when this is out.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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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.