Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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267. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when the next round of sports capital grants will be announced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55937/21]

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 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.

The scoring system and assessment procedures were published earlier this year and all applications are being assessed accordingly. 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.

In relation to the remaining capital applications, assessment work is continuing and every effort is being made to have it complete as quickly as possible. Given the record number of applications received however, it is likely to take a further number of weeks to have these assessments complete. Once these allocations are finalised an announcement on the timing of the next round of the Programme will be made.