Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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626. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the supports available to member owned sports clubs nationally (details supplied) in view of the extended forced closure on public health advice. [18844/21]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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A Covid-19 funding package of €85 million was provided last year to support the sport sector. This significant investment benefited all levels of the sport sector, including thousands of grassroots clubs across the country, and provided some certainty for sporting organisations in their planning for 2021.

I fully recognise that the financial and operational challenges associated with Covid-19 will continue well into 2021 and that many sporting organisations and clubs will find themselves in financial difficulty again this year. Additional funding of €26 million was allocated for Sport Ireland in Budget 2021 which will ensure that we can continue to support our valued sport sector. This includes funding to provide for supports to the sector to meet the ongoing challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sport Ireland is in ongoing communication with the National Governing Bodies of Sport and is assessing the financial needs of the sector. In addition, I am engaging with the National Governing Bodies both bilaterally and through the Covid-19 Sports Monitoring Group, which met most recently on 9 April, with regard to the supports required in the period ahead.