Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

495. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans in place to build a sports facility in County Cavan; and the funding available to complete such a facility. [17736/19]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department has no plans to build a sports facility in County Cavan. While my Department does not provide sports facilities directly, grant assistance is available to sports clubs, national governing bodies of sport, schools and local authorities for the development of sports and physical recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment. Full details of the relevant schemes are available on my Department's website. 

The 2018 round of the SCP closed for applications last October when a record 2,337 applications were submitted seeking a total of €162m in funding. The assessment of these new 2018 applications is continuing. As soon as allocations have been made, my Department will carry out a review of all aspects of the 2018 round of the programme to include any possible improvements for the future. This review will include consideration of the timing and scale of the next round but I fully expect that the SCP will again be open for new applications before the end of this year.    

In relation to larger sports projects. the National Sports Policy was published on 25th July 2018 and provided for a Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) with at least €100 million available over the coming years. The fund was launched in November 2018 and closes for applications on Wednesday of this week (17th April 2019). The fund is initially focused on the requirements and development plans of National Governing Bodies of Sport and Local Authorities, all of which received letters inviting them to make applications. Decisions on the timing of the next round of the LSSIF will be taken once the assessment of all applications is complete and grants have been announced.