Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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89. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the specific supports that will be available for County Donegal under the Tourism Recovery Plan 2020-2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21492/21]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The Tourism Recovery Taskforce presented the Tourism Recovery Plan 2020 – 2023 to me on September 30th last. The Plan makes a number of recommendations to help tourism businesses to survive, stabilise and recover from the COVID pandemic, and has been an important input for me and my colleagues in government in considering measures to assist the tourism sector. Together with horizontal measures introduced by Government, such as the EWSS and the CRSS, the sector-specific measures I have introduced have been key in helping tourism businesses to survive and employees to remain engaged in the sector right across the country.

With regards to specific tourism initiatives in County Donegal, I have asked Fáilte Ireland to provide the Deputy with further information on their work developing and promoting tourism in County Donegal. 

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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90. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the financial supports that have been given to sporting organisations to make up for income lost due to a lack of paying supporters. [21595/21]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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In 2020, an unprecedented €88.5 million funding package was provided for the Irish sport sector, which has been significantly impacted by the pandemic since March 2020.  

The funding package included COVID-19 funding of €70 million, which provided support for the three main field sports organisations (the FAI, GAA and IRFU), a Resilience Fund to support the National Governing Bodies of Sport, a Sports Club Resilience Fund to support clubs, and a Sports Restart and Renewal Fund. €15 million was provided for gaelic games, which assisted the GAA, the Ladies Gaelic Football Association and the Camogie Association towards the successful running of the 2020 inter-county championships.  In addition, a further €3.5 million was provided under the July Stimulus package - €2.5 million to assist the re-opening of swimming pools and €1 million for Local Sports Partnerships in Dublin. 

The funding was invested through grant schemes with Sport Ireland’s recognised funding partners, including the National Governing Bodies of Sport, Local Sports Partnerships and other funded sporting organisations. The schemes were designed to ensure sports organisations maintain operations, avoid insolvency and prepare for a return to productive activity in good financial health.  

A breakdown of the funding provided to individual sporting organisations in November and December 2020 is available on Sport Ireland's website at the following links: 

I fully recognise that the financial and operational challenges associated with Covid-19 will continue well into this year and many sporting organisations and clubs are facing financial challenges again this year.

Last week, Sport Ireland announced the allocation of €40 million in funding to support sport at all levels, through its annual grant funding schemes for National Governing Bodies, Local Sports Partnerships and high performance athletes.  Sport Ireland is in ongoing communication with NGBs and is assessing the financial needs of the sector for this year.  In addition, I am engaging with NGBs both bilaterally and through the Covid-19 Sports Monitoring Group, which met most recently on 9 April, with regard to the supports required.