Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 104: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if he will provide capital funding for the provision of youth, community or arts centres in such towns as Maynooth, Celbridge, Kilcock, Clane and Leixlip, County Kildare and towns with similar population requirements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30456/07]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides capital grants for the arts and culture infrastructure around the country. The main vehicle for such capital funding is the Arts & Culture Capital Enhancement Support Scheme (ACCESS), under which over €75 million has been granted to 107 arts and cultural facilities to date, since the scheme commenced in 2001. This scheme has played an important part in increasing access to and participation in the arts, particularly in rural communities and the current round of the scheme will run until 2009.

In addition 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. A figure of €63.092 million is available in my Department's budget for 2007 to fund payments to sporting and community organisations under this programme. When applications for funding under the 2008 Sports Capital Programme are invited through advertisements in the national newspapers it will be open to any group in the areas referred to by the Deputy to make an application should they have a project which complies with the terms of the programme.

While I have no specific function in relation to the provision of youth facilities, the programmes and schemes funded by my Department provide facilities that offer ideal opportunities for that sector to capitalise.