Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 44: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the criteria by which capital sports funding is allocated to local sports clubs and facilities around the country; if the geographic location of the sports club or facility is taken into account when the allocation is made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26930/06]

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.

All applications received under the sports capital programme are assessed on an individual basis by officials in the sports unit of my Department in accordance with a detailed set of assessment criteria as specified in the guidelines, terms and conditions for the programme, which accompany the application form for the programme. Following the assessment process, each application is given its order of priority within its own county.

The assessment process takes into account factors such as the existing level of facilities in an area, the number and quality of the applications received, the amount of funding being sought by each applicant and the strategic positioning of major facilities that may be required as well as the most recent Census of Population figures. Every effort is made to achieve a balanced geographical spread of funds throughout the country, while also affording priority to projects in areas of social and economic disadvantage.

The criteria could be summarised as covering the following:

∙the need to achieve an equitable geographical spread of funds and an equitable spread of funds among different sports and community groups;

∙the extent to which projects increase active participation and result in improved standards of sport;

∙the financial viability of the project;

∙the extent to which applicants have consulted with other clubs, community groups, schools, the Local Authority and the National Governing Bodies

in order to prioritise proposed improvements and facilities. Highest priority is afforded to projects in disadvantaged areas aimed at increasing participation. High priority projects include those which are essential or integral to sports participation or performance, e.g. pitch development, floodlighting, changing rooms and showers.

In relation to the 2006 sports capital programme, a total of 1,338 applications were received nationally, of which 1,211 were for projects classified as local and 127 as non-local, that is, projects which were categorised as national, regional or municipal and multi-sport.

I recently announced provisional grant allocations under the 2006 Programme in relation to the local applications totalling €53.745 million to 719 projects and I will be announcing the provisional allocations for the non-local projects in the near future.