Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Any decision in relation to the leasing of property by Dublin City Council is a matter for the local authority and I have no role in this regard.

In relation to my Department’s responsibilities, 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 €1.15 billion. The Programme for Government commits to continuing the SCEP and to target the investment in disadvantaged areas.

As well as being open to individual sports clubs, applications are also accepted from local authorities. and Dublin City Council has previously received significant funding for sports facilities projects in the vicinity of Alfie Byrne Road.

With regard to larger projects, the 2018 National Sports Policy provided for the establishment of a new Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The first call for proposals under the LSSIF closed in 2019 with applications confined to local authorities and National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of Sport. The first allocations were announced in January 2020 and, to date, approximately €86.4 million has been allocated to 33 projects. The projects that received provisional allocations and the amounts provisionally awarded to them are published on the Department's website and include a number of local authority led projects.

In relation to any capital assistance towards a new sports facility at Alfie Byrne Park, it will be open to Dublin City Council to make a future application under either the SCEP or the LSSIF. If the clubs referred to by the Deputy secure a lease on property it will also be open to them to apply directly for SCEP funding. Any applications will be considered on merit, based on the relevant scoring system for the relevant round of the SCEP or LSSIF. As the Deputy will be aware, however, the schemes favour projects that will increase participation, share facilities amongst a number of sports and/or clubs and priority is always given to applications from disadvantaged areas.