John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 231: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if he will give a firm commitment that funding will be sanctioned under the sports capital programme grant 2007 to a club (details supplied) for a synthetic playing surface, which will be floodlit and available all year round to members of the club and the greater surrounding hinterland; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there are no sports facilities in the Gurteen area for playing sports outside daylight hours and that the recreation centre is too small and unsuitable for persons over 10 years to engage in physical contact ball playing sports; the amount of funds that he has available under this scheme; the amount he will allocate to the club; when they will receive same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6743/07]

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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The 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 2007 programme were invited through advertisements in the Press on October 15th and 16th last. The closing date for receipt of applications was November 24th 2006. All applications received before the deadline, including one from the organisation in question, 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 programme as soon as possible after the assessment process has been completed and cannot give any indication as to whether any application is successful until that time.

I will decide on the level of provisional grant allocations to be made this year having regard both to the quality of the applications received under the 2007 programme and the pattern of grant allocations and drawdowns on foot of earlier years' approvals.

Applicants who are successful under the programme will, immediately following the public announcement of the grant allocations, be informed in writing of the amount of their provisional grant allocations and of the requirements of my Department in having the funding drawn down. The length of time taken to receive payment in respect of an allocation depends on how quickly those requirements are met by the grantee.