Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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39. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when the sports capital programme will be open for submissions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37156/20]

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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41. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if the sports capital grant will open for new applications in 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37393/20]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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45. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the position regarding the opening of applications for the sports capital grant. [37401/20]

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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55. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the status of the sport capital programme for 2020 as recently referred to by the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht; when the announcement will be made; the amount of funding the grant will contain; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37385/20]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 39, 41, 45, 55 and 66 together.

The Sports Capital Programme (SCP) is the primary vehicle for Government support for the development of sports and recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment throughout the country. Over 12,000 projects have now benefited from sports capital funding since 1998, bringing the total allocations in that time to close to €1 billion. 

The Programme for Government commits to continuing the SCP and to prioritise the investment in disadvantaged areas.

The most recent (2018) round of the SCP attracted a record 2,337 applications. Allocations were announced in January, May and November of last year with a total of over €56 million awarded to 1,648 different projects. All unsuccessful applicants were given the opportunity to appeal the Department’s decision. In relation to the capital grants announced in November, a total of 122 appeals were submitted by the December deadline.  The review of these appeals was completed in April with 6 new allocations approved. 

With regard to the 2020 rounds of the programme, a full Review of the 2018 round of the SCP has now been completed and the terms and conditions of the next round of the programme will be based on the recommendations in the Review.  I  intend to publish the guide to making an application and to launch the programme before the end of this month. This will include the specific details of when applications will be accepted and I expect this to be from early December. To take account of travel and other restrictions arising from the Covid pandemic I intend to give applicants until early February to complete the application process.  It is planned to make allocations later in  2021. 

Any organisation that has not already registered with the Department and wishes to apply for funding must first register on www.sportscapitalprogramme.ie.  Organisations must have a tax registration number from the Revenue Commissioners if they wish to register.