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 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 prioritising investment in disadvantaged areas.

Last year, the final allocations under the latest completed round (2020) of the Programme were announced. The total allocated was over €166 million which was the highest level of funding ever allocated under the Programme. A list of all allocations made under the SCP/SCEP since 2000 is published on my Department's website at:

www.gov.ie/en/collection/471ed5-sports-capital-allocations/

In addition, reviews of each of the most recent rounds of the Programme have been published. These Reviews include, inter alia, statistical information on the breakdown of allocations. A Review of the last round, 2020, can be found at the following link:

www.gov.ie/en/publication/84105-review-of-sports-capital-and-equipment-programme-2020/

A list of payments made under the SCP/SCEP since 2011 is published on my Department's website at:

gov.ie - Sports Capital Programmes Payments (www.gov.ie)

Each grant has a sunset clause which is communicated to grantees at the time of provisional allocation. Where grantees demonstrate reasons for unavoidable delays in drawing down their grants, my Department's approach is to accommodate any reasonable requests for extensions. Any organisation requiring an extension to the timeframe for drawing down a grant should contact the Sports Capital Division of my Department. It should be noted that the SCEP does not fund land purchase.

With regard to future allocations, the latest round of the SCEP (2023) closed for applications on Friday 8 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 and it is likely that the total number will exceed the previous record 3,106 applications submitted under the last (2020) round.

Work is now underway on finalising the "Scoring Assessment and Assessment Manual" for the 2023 round. This will set out how applications are scored including any implications of previous allocations. I hope to publish this in the coming weeks. Once finalised, the detailed assessment work can then 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.