Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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54. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when a decision will be made on the sports capital programme application made by a club (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60719/21]

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. The associated letter of provisional allocation encouraged all grantees to draw down this funding before year-end if possible and in recent weeks my Department has been prioritising the payments of all existing grants. Ensuring that as many older grants as possible are paid before year-end will maximise the funding available to allocate to the 2020 capital SCEP applications.

In relation to these 2020 capital SCEP applications, which include one submitted by the organisation referred to by the Deputy, assessment work is continuing and every effort is being made to complete it 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 fully complete with final recommended allocations expected early in the New Year.