Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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597. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if funding will be considered for a school (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29765/19]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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The 2018 round of the Sports Capital Programme closed for applications on Friday 19th October last.  By that deadline, a record 2,337 applications were submitted seeking a total of €162m in funding. 

186 of these applications were for projects that were deemed invalid under the 2017 round of the programme that subsequently submitted corrected documents.  These applications were assessed first and approximately €7m in allocations to 170 projects were announced on the 17th January. 

619 equipment only applications were assessed next and 466 allocations with a value of €9.8m were announced in May.

Work is now underway in assessing the remaining applications for capital works, including an application from the school and organisation referred to by the Deputy. It should be noted that under the terms and conditions of the SCP, elements of projects that have already commenced are not eligible for funding but applicants may complete projects on a phased basis.   

For the first time applicants who submitted incorrect documentation under this round are being given the opportunity to correct their application during the assessment period and my officials will be in touch with applicants if clarification is required. While there will be no undue delay in completing the assessment process, in view of the opportunity to correct documentation, the record number of applications received and the detailed information contained in each application, it is likely to take a number of months to have all applications assessed. Accordingly, I expect that it will be towards the end of the third quarter before the full set of allocations under this current round of the programme are announced.