Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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140. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when payment of a capital sports grant will be made to a club (details supplied); the reason for the delay with this payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35121/22]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The club to which the Deputy refers was provisionally allocated a grant of €59,500 under the 2017 Sports Capital Programme (SCP) for the provision of pitch floodlights. In accordance with the terms and conditions of the Programme, due to the value of the grants received by the club in the past, it is necessary to execute legal procedures in order to protect the public investment in the facility. These requirements were communicated to the club at provisional allocation stage and it was made clear that formal approval could not issue until the legal requirements were satisfied.

I understand that my Department’s legal advisor, the Chief State Solicitor's Office (CSSO), first sought the requisite legal documentation from the grantee’s solicitor on 21^stFebruary 2019 and has been in regular contact with the club’s solicitor since then in relation to legal requirements outstanding regarding a Further Advance and Novation. The CSSO wrote to the grantee’s solicitor on this matter as recently as 22^ndJune 2022. My Department, on 24^thNovember 2021, also agreed to extend the deadline for advancing the grant, as requested by the club, to allow it more time to finalise its legal processes.

As previously stated, it will not be possible to provide formal approval for the provisionally allocated grant until the CSSO confirms that all legal formalities have been completed. Once the CSSO confirmation is received there will be no undue delay in progressing the allocation to formal approval stage and subsequently paying the grant subject to all necessary documentation being submitted by the club.