Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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72. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will consider establishing a ring-fenced part of the sports capital fund in order that rapid-growth areas that have a shortage of both facilities and of clubs could get support to fill the gap in opportunities. [9462/22]

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 recreation facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment throughout the country. Over 13,000 projects have now benefited from sports capital funding since 1998, bringing the total allocations in that time to over €1.1 billion. The Programme for Government commits to continuing the SCEP and to prioritising investment in disadvantaged areas.

The 2020 round of the Programme closed for applications on 1 March 2021. By this date, 3,106 applications had been submitted seeking over €200 million in funding. This is the highest number of applications ever received.

The scoring system and assessment procedures were finalised and published prior to assessment work commencing and all applications were assessed in accordance with these procedures. The scoring system prioritises applications that will increase participation and the level of existing facilities in the area is a key consideration in this regard.

All of the improvements which were introduced for recent rounds of the Programme to make the process as user-friendly as possible were maintained for this round. This included giving applicants a second chance to submit corrected documentation. The full scoring system and assessment procedures can be viewed at the following link: - www.sportscapitalprogramme.ie/

Approximately one thousand of the submitted applications were for 'equipment-only' projects. These applications were assessed first and grants with a total value of €16.6 million were announced on 6 August 2021. The remaining capital applications were then assessed and 1,865 individual grant offers with a total value of over €143.8 million were announced on Friday 11 February. All valid applications including any received from rapid growth areas received a grant offer.

A full review of the 2020 round of the SCEP will be undertaken and, as part of the review, my officials will examine the distribution of funds in terms of, inter alia, their geographic, sectoral and socio-economic impact. Any recommendations arising from the review will be factored into the terms and conditions of the next Round.

Furthermore, Sport Ireland is continuing to develop a national digital database of sport and recreational facilities, which it is hoped can be significantly completed by the end of 2023. It is envisaged that the database will permit the undertaking of enhanced, strategic demographic analyses to inform future grant allocation decisions on the nature and location of sports facilities.