James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I apologise on behalf of the Minister of State with responsibility for sport, Deputy Chambers, and the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, who are caught at a Cabinet meeting and unfortunately cannot be here. I thank the Senator for raising this very important matter. We are acutely aware of the importance of sports capital grants to our local communities.

The sports capital and equipment programme is the primary vehicle for Government support for the development of sports and recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment throughout the country. More than 13,000 projects have benefited from sports capital funding since 1998, bringing the total allocations in that time to more than €1 billion.

The programme has transformed the sporting landscape of Ireland, with improvements in the quality and quantity of sporting facilities in virtually every village, town and city in the country. The programme is also an important element of the national sports policy in delivering increased participation in sport. Grants are available to voluntary, not-for-profit sports clubs, community groups, national governing bodies of sport and local authorities. Third level colleges, education and training boards and schools may only apply for funding jointly with sports clubs or organisations.

The programme's objectives are to assist sporting organisations to develop high quality, accessible, safe, well-designed and sustainable facilities in appropriate locations and to provide appropriate equipment to help maximise participation in sport and physical recreation, to prioritise the needs of disadvantaged areas and groups, such as people with disabilities, in the provision of sports facilities, and to encourage the sharing and maximum use of sports facilities. The programme for Government commits to continuing the sports capital programme and prioritising investment in disadvantaged areas.

On 30 November last, the Minister, Deputy Martin, and the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, announced that a new 2020 round of the programme was opening, with applications being accepted from 11 December until 1 March 2021. By this closing date, 3,106 applications had been submitted seeking more than €200 million in funding. This is the highest number of applications ever received.

The scoring system and assessment procedures have been finalised and published. All applications are now being assessed in accordance with these procedures. Given the large number of applications received, this assessment process is likely to take a number of months. As soon as this process is complete all applicants will be informed of the outcome of the assessment of their application. The sports capital and equipment programme only funds projects that are sporting in nature, whether competitive or recreational. All applications are assessed against six published criteria. These criteria are the likelihood of increasing participation, including female participation, and improving performance, whether the proposed facilities will be shared with other users, the level of socioeconomic disadvantage in the area, using the Pobal deprivation index, the technical merits of the project, the level of own funding available, and the amount of funding previously allocated under the programme. At least €40 million is being made available and it is planned to make allocations in tranches throughout 2021 as batches of applications are assessed, starting with applications for sports equipment in the summer followed by applications for capital works later in the year.

I welcome the Senator's genuine and passionate interest in the programme. However, the suggestion that allocations to applications under this year's round of the programme could be made over a three-year period is problematic for a number of reasons. The sports capital programme assessment process is competitive and rewards the projects that are more likely to deliver on the programme's objectives of increasing participation, prioritising disadvantaged areas and groups and encouraging the sharing of facilities. The Senator's proposal could be seen to reward inferior projects that do not score sufficiently high marks this year to secure funding. The proposal would disadvantage new and worthwhile projects that intend to apply for funding under future rounds of the programme and it would effectively mean no new applications for the next three years.

For these reasons, while I thank the Senator for raising this important matter, I am not in favour of making the changes to the programme that he has proposed. As demonstrated by the number of applications this year, there is very strong ongoing interest in developing local sports facilities throughout the country and it is important that the opportunity to apply is not curtailed and that investment continues to be made in the best projects that will make the most impact.