Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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250. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the degree to which she and her Department have supported and continued to support the sport and recreational sector through the medium of sports grants or otherwise; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10753/22]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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In relation to my Department's responsibilities, three schemes provide capital grant assistance for the development and improvement of sports facilities.

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 prioritise the 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.

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 2022. The priority in the medium term is to progress all of these projects to grant drawdown stage.

In relation to any unsuccessful applications, my Department will be in touch with relevant applicants shortly outlining the procedures which need to be followed to appeal the Department's decision. When the appeals process is complete, a full review of the 2020 round of the SCEP will be undertaken and any recommendations contained therein will be included in the terms and conditions of the next round. The precise timing of this next round of the Programme will be announced once this review is complete.

Funding is also provided by my Department for sports facilities under the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The 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 €86.4 million has been awarded to 33 different proposals.

The Department also provides capital support for the construction of swimming pools. In this regard, the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme (LASPP) provides grant aid towards the capital costs of new swimming pools or the refurbishment of existing pools. To date 52 pools have been completed and three swimming pool projects (Lucan, Buncrana and Edenderry) remain in the programme. Lucan pool is under construction and is expected to be completed later this year, while both the Buncrana and Edenderry projects are at Contract Documents stage.

Exchequer support for any new swimming pool projects is now being provided under the LSSIF.

In addition to the ongoing support through capital grants for sporting infrastructure, on 13 December 2021, Minister Martin and I announced the allocation of almost €80m for the sport sector under two separate support programmes.

€73.6 million was provided in Covid-19 funding under five separate streams to help sports organisations to recover and grow post-pandemic, support our grassroots networks of clubs and local sports partnerships, and ensure that people of all ages and abilities return to sport and physical activity. A further €5.3 million was allocated to National Governing Bodies of Sport and Local Sports Partnerships for the provision of sports equipment including the roll out of defibrillators for clubs, sport kits for school children and state of the art equipment for our high performance athletes.

In Budget 2022, the Government announced over €181 million in funding for sport this year, an increase of almost €11 million compared to the 2021 Revised Estimate. The current expenditure budget for Sport Ireland this year is €96 million, an increase of over €4 million from 2021. This funding will enable Sport Ireland to continue to support the sport sector as it recovers from the challenges of Covid and will allow continued grant funding support for sporting bodies through Sport Ireland's range of funding programmes.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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251. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which she and her Department continue to encourage participation in sports in 2022 with particular reference to the necessity to encourage wider participation in the aftermath of Covid-19; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10754/22]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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252. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which she proposes to encourage sporting and recreation activities at local level in 2022; the ongoing expenditure in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10755/22]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 251 and 252 together.

The Winter Initiative is a rolling programme of activities and initiatives that aims to get people back to sport and increase participation in the aftermath of COVID-19. The programme has run successfully over the past few months, with a wide range of activities taking place throughout the sports sector. It has provided National Governing Bodies of Sport with a perfect platform to launch their Autumn and Winter Programmes and will continue up to the end of March.

I am pleased to advise the Deputy that at the last count there were over 700 events occurring under the Winter Initiative. 66 National Governing Bodies of Sport are participating, as are all 29 Local Sports Partnerships. Details on the events that are taking place can be found on the website of Sport Ireland, and through the respective organisations running the events. It is my intention that a similar programme will be run next Winter and to that end my Department and Sport Ireland will commence planning in that regard in the coming months.

I have referred the Deputy’s question to Sport Ireland for direct reply in relation to the level of ongoing expenditure being incurred on encouraging sporting activity at local level in 2022. I would ask the Deputy to contact my office if a reply is not received within 10 days.