Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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22. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the criteria employed for deciding upon the allocation of funding provided through the sports capital grant programme; if he is satisfied that these criteria are followed in all allocation decisions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16507/15]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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​All applications received under the Sports Capital Programme are assessed by officials in the Department.  Every application is assessed by one official and reviewed by another official.

Applications under the 2014 Programme were first checked to ensure eligibility and eligible applications were then initially scored by officials against five criteria:

1.  Likelihood of increasing participation and/or improving performance and the sharing of facilities,

2.  Level of socio-economic disadvantage in the area,

3.  Technical merits of the project,

4.  Level of own funding available,

5.  Level of Sports Capital Programme funding received in the past.

These criteria were designed to give higher scores to applications that will increase participation where facilities will be shared, that were from designated disadvantaged areas, that had not received substantial funding in the past and that were ready to be progressed as soon as possible.

In deciding the final allocations of funding to projects within each county Minister Varadkar and I had regard to a number of factors, including:

- The performance of each application during the assessment process,

- Ensuring a geographical spread of projects within each county,

- Ensuring an appropriate spread of projects between rural and urban areas within each county, and

- Ensuring that there was a spread of projects among different sports.

I can confirm to the Deputy and the House that I am fully satisfied that all of the criteria that I have mentioned are fully adhered to and that will continue to be the case when I come to make the 2015 allocations.

The arrangements for the assessment of applications under the 2015 SCP are currently being finalised.