Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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128. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his attention has been drawn to the fact, that when broken down on a per capita basis, sports capital grants are very unevenly spread, throughout the country; if his Department has produced an analysis over the past number of years to determine the best way of allocating these resources to ensure the places with the greatest need get the resources; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9988/15]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I think that everyone would agree that the Sports Capital Programme has been of great benefit to clubs and sports organisations in every county. When I took office, I was well aware that there had previously been an imbalance in funding from the Programme when measured on a per capita basis across counties.  I decided that, in the interest of equity, I should try to redress that imbalance.  Therefore, in 2012,  I decided that counties that had fared less well under previous rounds of the Programme would receive more money per capita than counties who had historically received more than their per capita share.  Again in 2014 I provided more money to counties which hadn’t fared as well as others under previous rounds.

Special priority is also given to projects in designated disadvantaged areas.  These projects are permitted to have lower levels of own funding and gain additional marks in the assessment process.

Because of these changes, I believe that the distribution of funds under the Programme is now more equitable than at any time in the past.