Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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104. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when he will consider a further tranche of major and minor capital sports grants to include swimming pools and other categories previously unable to qualify for various reasons; if he has examined the extent to which groups failed to qualify in the past with a view to addressing issues which may facilitate them in the future; if he will identify areas throughout the country to which special consideration may be provided on socio-economic grounds in both urban or rural settings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25323/18]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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The 2017 round of the Sports Capital Programme (SCP) attracted a record 2,320 applications and in November and December last, Minister Ross and I announced €60m in allocations to a record 1,800 projects. A review of the 2017 round of the programme has now been finalised and published on my Department's website (www.dttas.ie). This review highlights aspects of the 2017 round that worked well but also suggests some further improvements which are being considered prior to the next round of the programme.  Formal sanction has now been received from the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to open the new round of the programme and an announcement in relation to the timing of this 2018 round is expected in the coming weeks.

In relation to applications that do not qualify for funding, a number of measures were introduced for the 2017 round of the SCP with the aim of reducing the level of invalid applications. These measures included a shortened application form, the organisation of a series of regional seminars for potential applicants and more online validation to prevent applicants submitting incomplete applications. These measures were largely successful and the invalid rate for the 2017 round of the programme was the lowest ever at 20%. While this was good progress, I am committed to lowering this figure even further for the next round.  In addition, all of the applicants who remain invalid following the conclusion of the 2017 round of the SCP have been contacted and informed that under the new 2018 round of the SCP they will be given the opportunity to simply submit the corrected documentation needed to make their 2017 application valid (for the 2018 round of the SCP), without the requirement of going through a full new application process.

With regard to larger sports infrastructure including swimming pools, the recently published National Development Plan (NDP) contains a commitment to establish a new “Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund” (LSSIF) with at least €100m available over the coming years.  My officials have been engaging with relevant stakeholders in recent weeks and are currently drafting the terms and conditions of the new scheme.  An announcement in relation to when applications will be accepted will be made once these terms and conditions are finalised.

While the SCP already prioritises the needs of disadvantaged areas in the assessment of applications, the review of the 2017 round suggests that even greater weighting could be given to such applications. This is one of the changes being considered for the new 2018 round of the programme and it is intended that the LSSIF would also have an appropriate element of favourable weighting for projects in disadvantaged areas.