Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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The National Sports Policy, which was published in 2018, provided for the establishment of a 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 of sport. All applications were assessed in accordance with the published evaluation procedures and guidelines and the first allocations were announced in January 2020. Thus far, approximately €86.4 million has been awarded to 33 different proposals.

With regard to a possible new round of the LSSIF, I am determined to see continued investment in sports facilities in order to ensure we achieve our ambitious targets for sports participation across the country. Accordingly, I will continue to engage with the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform on the timing of the opening of a new round and the funding required to underpin such a round.

The National Digital Database of Sport and Recreation Amenities was recently launched by Sport Ireland and is a major project involving the integration of multiple datasets from a wide variety of stakeholders that will, inter alia, increase our understanding of gaps or shortfalls in Ireland's sporting infrastructure. This will also provide an invaluable input into future investment decisions to ensure that public money goes where it is most needed and delivers the best results in terms of sports participation.