Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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644. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of application workshops which were held to help groups applying for sports capital grants; the counties in which these were held and when; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7266/17]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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On 21 December last, I, along with Minister Ross, announced that €30m is being made available under the 2017 Sports Capital Programme. The application process opened on 23 January and will remain open until the 24 February.

For the 2017 Sports Capital Programme my Department has introduced a number of innovations to try to reduce the proportion of invalid applications submitted.  These include:

- The application form has been simplified and reduced from 14 pages to 6;

- There is more online validation of application information to prompt users to provide the correct information;

- A relaxation in the requirements for applicants to provide supporting documentation especially around quotations and planning permission.

My Department has also produced a comprehensive written and video guide, both of which are available on my Department's website.  Finally, my Department arranged seven regional workshops to guide organisations through the application process.  The details of the workshops are set out in the following table.

It was not possible to hold a workshop in every county but it is intended that venues for workshops for future rounds of the programme will be varied to give a geographical spread.