John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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6. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to provide an update on sports capital grant appeals for Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9867/25]

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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11. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the timeframe for when the next sports capital grant applications will open; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10207/25]

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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As this is my first opportunity to speak in the Dáil, I wish to say a huge thanks to the people of Cork North-West for putting their faith in me and voting me in to this House for the next five years. I look forward to representing them as best I can. I also wish to take this opportunity to thank my family, friends, neighbours, relations and all the Fine Gael family who supported me throughout the campaign. It is very much appreciated.

I wish to ask the Minister for sport for an update on the sports capital grant appeals for County Cork and if he will provide a statement on the matter.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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Comhghairdeas leis an Teachta.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I congratulate Deputy O'Shea on a very strong election result. I wish him well in his term of office.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 11 together. The programme for Government, in which the Deputy had a role in negotiations, commits to supporting the sporting ecosystem so that more people can participate in and reap the benefits of sport and fulfil their potential from grassroots right up to high performance level. We will achieve this through a number of measures, including maintaining sports funding to get more people participating in all levels of sport, particularly targeting cohorts in society where there are lower than average participation levels. This includes people with disabilities and older people. Sport adds so much to our lives as spectators, grassroots participants or those who excel in their field. Government investment means our participants have good facilities at their disposal and can train to compete to the best of their ability, whatever that is. Government investment in sports is visible in our clubs and facilities. It is also visible in the achievements of our athletes at the highest levels, as we saw with the successful summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Government is committed to continuing to increase its investment during our time in office.

In terms of the funding in place, the community sport facilities fund, CSFF, is the primary vehicle for Government support for the development of sports and recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment. CSFF grants provide new or improved facilities, helping people of all ages and backgrounds to participate in clubs, who benefit greatly from this. In September 2024, €230 million was invested in grants for sports clubs and facilities under phase 2 of the community sport facilities fund. More than a quarter of a billion euro was also allocated to community sports clubs and facilities in total in 2024, taking account of the earlier equipment-only allocations.

There were 3,211 applications for the 2023 round, 365 of which were from organisations in the Deputy's county of Cork. In September, allocations were confirmed and the amount allocated to Cork organisations was just over €29.5 million. Given the scale of funding available and the time required to assess all local applications, the recommended allocation amounts for valid local applications were calculated using the Pobal index as the primary calculation factor. The scoring system for regional applications was designed to reward applications from disadvantaged areas, applications that showed evidence of sharing and those that had engaged with the planning process. All invalid applicants were offered a three-week period to appeal the Department's decision, the deadline for which was 29 October. For every appeal, the application was reviewed by an officer other than the original assessor. All appellants have now been informed of the outcome of their appeals.

In line with previous rounds of the programme, a review of the current funding round will now be undertaken. That review will be used to inform the timing of the next round of the community sport facilities fund. I anticipate that the next round should be announced early in 2026, with the consideration of the applications to follow and an announcement of funding later in 2026. So far, the pattern has been that, every two years approximately, there is a new round of allocations to clubs. I expect a similar timeline again.

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. It is great there will be further investment in the wider sport area in the lifetime of this Government, especially in 2025-2026. On the sports capital allocations, it is good that appeals from County Cork have been dealt with and a number have been successful. The ones that were unsuccessful will be able to bid again in 2026, as the Minister of State said. It is important this round of funding is completed and that we prepare for the next round of funding, which is important to clubs. The amount of investment in our towns and villages has been remarkable. It has been seen the length and breadth of Cork North-West and the country.

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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I have a query about the timescale. It is about sports organisations' planning. In the Minister of State's reply, he said the next round will start in 2026. When in 2026 will it be?

Is it going to be in the first or second quarter? This is about organisations preparing plans and making sure they have gone through the whole planning process. It is about target dates.

The Minister of State also raised the issue of disadvantaged areas but I am not clear that we are putting enough effort in to giving funding to disadvantaged areas. We have a problem in that we do not have the expertise in some areas to fill out applications and we do not have any scheme in place to assist organisations in those areas with making those applications. It is extremely important to ensure in the next round of grant applications that support mechanisms are put in place to help those disadvantaged areas.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputies Burke and O'Shea. I expect it to be spring 2026 when we open up for applications to be submitted and the expectation is that funding will be made available in the autumn period. That is certainly the timeline to which we are working.

On Deputy Burke's point, we have just completed the appeals process and are now reviewing the operation and impact of it and how the whole process works. We want to make sure it is amended in any way necessary so that it works as effectively as possible for those applying and in terms of the impact and end return. We have seen phenomenal investment in sport and community facilities. Any funding we put into this gives an immense return to each community and is leveraged very strongly by every sporting organisation. It is fair to say that across the board over the past generation we have seen a transformation in the sporting facilities we have in this country. We have also seen a transformation in the administration and governance of sport across all sporting organisations and that journey continues as we try to improve and develop further.

We are very open to listening to any suggestions the Deputies, other Members of the Oireachtas or, indeed, clubs or anyone within the sporting sector might have to ensure the process works as effectively as possible next time around.

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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It is good to see that a date has been set for spring 2026 for an announcement of the next round of funding. A lot of clubs that were not successful this time around will be waiting in anticipation. They will have the opportunity to prepare now in terms of planning permission and getting themselves in train to prepare for the application process itself. It is a tough application process, there is no doubt about it. It was reviewed previously and I welcome the fact the Department is going to review it further with a view to simplifying it more for applicants. That is particularly important in the context of Deputy Burke's point about disadvantaged areas. It is hugely important that we try to assist those communities with the application process because it is difficult. It is all online now and trying to get planning permission and other arrangements in place can be hugely difficult for those communities. I welcome the fact the Minister of State is open to taking some of our suggestions on board over the next couple of months.

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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Regarding disadvantaged areas, while there are some in my constituency of Cork North-Central on the northside of the city, in fairness to all of the sporting organisations and the local authorities, they have been very proactive about grants. However, I did come across difficulties in Dublin. For instance, one of projects in which I was involved was the opening of Merchant's Quay supervised injection facility, and in that whole area of Dublin there are no facilities of any description for young people. There is a primary school in the area attended by a lot of young people but they have no facilities of any description. That is the kind of thing I am talking about, where we need to open up to those areas that have not received any kind of funding over the past 15 or 20 years. It is something the Department needs to consider.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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That is certainly something I will take on board in terms of making sure support is available for those who might need it so that their applications meet the criteria and are put together correctly. That is obviously important in terms of ensuring a successful outcome for applicants. In the most recent round of funding, the Department provided opportunities for clubs that were not successful to engage closely with the appeals process to determine the reasons and see if they could be rectified. It is fair to say that only a very small number of clubs did not get a grant and it was very clearly because they were not meeting the criteria at the time or some of the key requirements were not in place. There would have been engagement and it is important this was the case, but if there is any way we can strengthen that, we certainly will.

I thank Deputies O'Shea and Burke who are very strong advocates for sport in Cork and in their local communities and for the development of facilities there. As a Government, we are massively committed to following through and seeing the investment that was made last October manifesting in improved facilities and services on the ground and to building further on that. The other key issue as we go forward for the next round is making sure that, where there are gaps for certain sports in particular parts of the country, we try to plug those gaps so that everyone has the opportunity to participate in the sports they are passionate about in their local communities and that the facilities and services are in place. We must also look to see how we can further develop communal, municipal and community approaches to sports facilities which can be utilised by several sporting organisations so that we maximise and leverage the facilities that are in a locality. We need to make sure, for example, that we are working with the schools system as well so that we get the maximum impact from investments being made by local clubs, local volunteers and the State to get the maximum benefit for local communities.