John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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Question 300: To ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport the reason for the inordinate delay in making payment of a sports capital grant to a centre (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42876/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Payment of an allocation under the Sports Capital Programme is subject to compliance on the part of the grantee with the Programme's terms and conditions. Provisional allocations under the Programme cannot be formally approved until all legal requirements are met. The grantee in question was informed in the letter of provisional allocation on 9 May 2007 that no works should be carried out prior to receipt of formal approval from the Department.

The terms and conditions include a requirement, for grantees in receipt of allocations that cumulatively exceed certain threshold levels, to execute a Deed of Covenant and Charge, which is designed to protect the Minister and taxpayers' interest in the grant-aided facility.

Where grantees hold a lease to the property in question, and that lease contains a forfeiture clause, grantees are required to have the landlord execute a landlord agreement. This agreement stipulates that in the event that the facility reverts to the landlord within the period of the Minister's charge, the landlord will either maintain the facility in sporting use or repay the unexpired value of the grant to the Department. The Chief State Solicitor's Office (CSSO) advised in September of this year that landlord agreements should remain an integral part of the Minister's security under the Department's capital programmes.

In the case of the grantee in question, the landlord refuses to enter into such a landlord agreement. The Department is consulting with the CSSO and the landlord concerned to identify a solution to this matter. Following a recent meeting with the landlord in question, the Department wrote to the CSSO on Friday last, 12 November 2010, seeking observations on a proposed solution.