Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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114. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will undertake to facilitate meetings within her Department, FAI and Louth County Council to support discussions on the provision of a long overdue municipal football and sports stadium for Drogheda, County Louth (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34407/20]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The Large Scale Sport infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) was launched in 2018 to provide Exchequer support for larger sports facility projects with at least €100m being made available over the period to 2027. Provisional allocations totaling €77.4m for 25 projects under Stream 2 (construction) of the LSSIF were announced on 10 January 2020. On 13th January additional provisional allocations of €5m for a further 7 projects under Stream 1 (design) of the LSSIF were announced.

In relation to the applications received, the FAI sought financial assistance to design a new football stadium and training facility in Drogheda. Unfortunately, the project did not achieve a sufficiently high score following assessment stage to be awarded a provisional grant under the first set of allocations. In relation to the availability of future funding, the priority in the short term is on advancing the projects allocated funding last January. While it is not proposed to open the LSSIF for new applications at present, it is planned to review progress on existing grants in 2021 when the question of whether or not it would be appropriate to seek new applications will be considered.

My Department is available to meet with the FAI and Louth County Council to discuss the matter further if such a request is received.