Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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1064. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the funding measures available for sports buildings in order to help enable disability access; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46872/17]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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The Sports Capital Programme is the primary means of providing Government funding to sport and community organisations at local, regional and national level.

The 2017 round of the Sports Capital Programme closed for applications on the 24th February and the announcement of allocations is expected in the coming weeks. The full guide to making an application under the programme is available on my Department's website and applications for assistance can involve modifications to sports facilities to improve access for people with disabilities.

The timing of the next round of the Sports Capital Programme will be announced next year.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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1065. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when the sports capital fund allocations for 2017 will be announced in view of the fact that many clubs have made plans dependent on such funding. [46885/17]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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The 2017 round of the Sports Capital Programme closed for applications on the 24th February. By the closing date, a record number of 2,320 applications seeking €155 million in grants were received. 

When the programme was launched, it was envisaged that €30m would be available which would have made the allocation of grants particularly challenging. Following the conclusion of the budget discussions and in order to allow as many worthwhile projects as possible to receive some funding, I am pleased that significant extra resources have been secured to allocate under this round.

The assessment of all the 2,320 applications is now nearing completion and I expect to be in a position to announce full details of the allocations in the coming weeks.