Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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262. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when capital sports grants are likely to be awarded and granted in 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48348/21]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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263. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if major capital sports projects are likely to be announced; if any changes to previous policy in this regard are contemplated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48349/21]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The National Sports Policy as published in 2018 provided for the establishment of a Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The scheme is designed for projects where the grant being sought is greater than the maximum grant available under the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP). The first allocations under the LSSIF were announced in January 2020 and thus far, approximately €86.4m has been awarded to 33 different proposals.

All applications under the LSSIF were assessed in accordance with the published scoring criteria. The total funding applied for under the scheme significantly exceeded the amount available to allocate and so it was not possible to make provisional allocations to many worthwhile projects.

While the priority in the short term is to advance all of the successful projects, as it is now over 18 months since the first allocations were made, and in view of the issues faced by grantees as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is timely to review progress on all projects allocated grants. My Department is engaging with all grantees in this regard. The scope for awarding new grants to projects which missed out under the first set of allocations is being considered as part of this review as is the timing of any new call for proposals. It is expected that the review will be completed in the coming months.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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264. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which her Department proposes to put special emphasis on local sporting and community organisations when considering the allocation of grants in 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48350/21]