Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP) is the primary vehicle for Government support for the development of sports and physical recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment throughout the country. The GAA and its county boards are entitled to apply directly for Sports Capital and Equipment Programme funding up to a value of €300,000 for assistance to upgrade and improve county grounds and stadiums.

The latest (2020) round of the SCEP closed for applications on Monday 1st March 2021. By the closing date, over 3,100 applications were submitted seeking over €200m in funding. This is the highest number of applications ever received. Approximately one thousand of the submitted applications were for 'equipment-only' projects. These applications were assessed first and grants with a total value of €16.6m were announced on the 6th August. The remaining applications for capital works are now being assessed. This work is ongoing with allocations for all successful applications expected to be announced in the coming months. Once these allocations are finalised an announcement will be made in relation to the next call for applications.

The Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) is designed for projects where the grant sought is greater than the maximum available under the 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.  Of those 33 proposals, 5 were identified by the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association as being consistent with their national strategies for the development of their sport. Of those 5 grants,  3 are for improvements to county grounds.

The priority in the short term is to advance all of these 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. My Department is engaging with all grantees in this regard. The timing of any new call for proposals is also being considered and it is expected that the Review will be completed shortly.

Details of all allocations, including those made for county grounds, under the SCEP since 2000 are published at ww.gov.ie/en/collection/471ed5-sports-capital-allocations/. Details of the allocations made under the LSSIF are available at www.gov.ie/en/service/4113b3-large-scale-sport-infrastructure-fund-lssif/.