Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 32: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the amount allocated by his Department in national lottery funding for 2005; if he will transfer responsibility for the allocation of this funding to an independent authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20213/05]

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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The national lottery-funded sports capital programme, which is administered by my Department, allocates funding to sporting and community organisations at local, regional and national level throughout the country. The programme is advertised on an annual basis. Applications for funding under the 2005 programme were invited through advertisements in the press on 5 and 6 December 2004. The closing date for receipt of applications was 4 February 2005. The 1,362 applications received are currently being evaluated against the programme's assessment criteria, which are outlined in the guidelines, terms and conditions of the programme. I intend to announce the grant allocations for the 2005 programme as soon as possible after the assessment process has been completed.

I have no plans to transfer responsibility for the allocation of sports capital funding to an independent authority. The current arrangements for administering the sports capital programme, which have been applied by successive governments over many years, have been extremely successful in ensuring that the programme is responsive to local needs.

It is entirely appropriate that the Minister for sport should be in a position to use this important instrument of sporting policy to achieve objectives such as supporting projects of particular local or regional significance or encouraging the development of as many sports as possible. From 1998 to 2004 a total of €331.55 million has been allocated to 4,273 sports capital projects. This massive investment in the creation of a sporting infrastructure is now yielding benefits both in terms of local community developments and increased participation in sport. The scheme is administered in accordance with pre-determined eligibility criteria, all of which must be satisfied before projects may access funding allocated to them.

I would remind the Deputy that as Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, I am directly accountable to Dáil Éireann for the operation of the sports capital programme. This accountability is ongoing and finds expression, for example, through parliamentary questions, Adjournment debates, Estimates debates and engagement with Dáil committees. This is a feature which would be notably absent were the administration of the sports capital programme to be made the responsibility of an independent board. Apart from the obvious issue of how one determines 'independence', experience elsewhere has shown that decisions by independent boards do not always receive universal acceptance. Where a grant scheme attracts a level of applications well in excess of available funding, as is the case with the sports capital programme, unsuccessful applicants will always experience an understandable sense of disappointment whatever the decision-making process.