Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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436. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to allocate some of the additional sports capital funding of 5% to sporting bodies in order to support high performance athletes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47875/17]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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In relation to the support provided directly to high performance athletes, this is primarily a matter for Sport Ireland. I understand that in 2017, €7.2 million will be invested directly into High Performance programmes, with a further €1.8 million available to support athletes under the International Carding Scheme which provides income support to elite athletes.  

With regard to the Sports Capital Programme, this is the Government’s primary vehicle for supporting the development of sports and physical recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment. Grants are available to sports clubs, voluntary and community groups, national governing bodies of sports and local authorities.  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, I am pleased that significant extra resources have been secured to allocate under this round. The increased funding will ensure that many additional projects, including facilities utilised by our high performance athletes, can now be funded. 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