Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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40. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to the campaign by a group (details supplied); if she will examine the need for a pool facility in this part of County Wicklow; and if she will consider meeting the volunteer board to discuss the project and its plans going forward. [47459/21]

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.

An application was received from Wicklow County Council in respect of the project referred to by the Deputy but was not awarded a grant under the first set of allocations. 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 the project referred to by the Deputy did not score sufficiently highly to be awarded a grant under this first set of allocations.

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.

With regard to a meeting to discuss the project, my officials are always available in the first instance to meet clubs and groups to discuss their proposals for sporting infrastructure.