Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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387. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the status of an application by a club (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39720/23]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, 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 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 prioritising investment in disadvantaged areas.

The 2023 round of the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (2023) closed for applications on Friday 8th September. A preliminary examination of the submitted applications is now underway but it is clear that the Programme has again generated a very large number of applications, including one from the club referenced by the Deputy.

Work is now underway on drafting the "Scoring Assessment and Assessment Manual" for the 2023 round and I hope to have this finalised in the coming weeks. Once this is published, the detailed assessment work can commence. In this regard, it is planned to assess the "Equipment-only" applications first with a view to announcing these grants in the coming months. Work will then commence on the assessment of the capital applications with the allocations likely to be announced later in 2024.