James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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96. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will report on the allocation for sport capital grants in the context of the increased level of applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33140/21]

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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104. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if serious consideration will be given to increasing the funding under the 2021 sports capital and equipment programme in view of the large number of applications received by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33185/21]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 96 and 104 together.

The Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP) 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 13,000 projects have now benefited from sports capital funding since 1998, bringing the total allocations in that time to over €1 billion. 

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

The latest round of the SCEP closed for applications on Monday 1st March, 2021. By the closing date, 3,106 applications were submitted seeking over €200m in funding. This is the highest number of applications ever received.

The scoring system and assessment manual for the 2020 round has now been finalised and is available at www.sportscapitalprogramme.ie. All applications are being assessed in accordance with this manual.  Given the large number of applications received, this assessment process is likely to take a number of months.  No decision on allocations will be made until all applications have been assessed but priority will be given to projects that score highest in accordance with the published scoring system. Furthermore, every effort will be made to fund as many worthwhile projects as possible while providing a sufficient level of grant to ensure the projects are viable.  While a minimum of €40m is available, the level of funding will be kept under review, in the context of drawdown demands in the coming years for older SCEP grants and the review of the National Development Plan.