Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The National Sports Policy, which was published in 2018, provided for the establishment of a Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The aim of the LSSIF is to provide Exchequer support for larger sports facility projects where the Exchequer investment would be greater than the maximum amount available under the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP).

The first call for proposals under the LSSIF closed in 2019 with applications confined to Local Authorities and National Governing Bodies of Sport. New swimming pool projects and the refurbishment of existing swimming pools were eligible to apply for a LSSIF grant funding subject to published guidelines. The first allocations under the LSSIF were announced in January 2020 with €86.4 million subsequently awarded to 33 different projects which included a project proposal from Galway City Council for the construction of a new swimming pool in Knocknacarra, Galway City. €8,003,415 was allocated to the Galway Regional Aquatic and Fitness Centre project.

Subsequently, following engagement with the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and in recognition of challenges in recent years, such as construction inflation, officials in my Department wrote to all LSSIF grantees, including Galway City Council regarding the Galway Regional Aquatic and Fitness Centre project, inviting them to apply for additional support by 4 August 2023. To be considered for additional funding, grantees were advised that the key elements of the project should remain as set out in the original application and that priority would be given to those providing evidence-based documentation to support their application. Galway City Council did not apply for additional LSSIF funding for this project.

Minister Martin and I recently announced additional funding amounting to a total of €37.6 million, with 27 existing LSSIF projects benefitting, bringing the total awarded to date to LSSIF funded projects to €124 million.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The National Sports Policy which was published in 2018 provided for a new Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The aim of the fund is to provide Exchequer support for larger sports projects and facilities where the required Exchequer investment is greater than the maximum amount available under the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP). In terms of the initial allocations, approximately €86.4 million was awarded to 33 different proposals.

Minister Martin and I recently announced additional funding amounting to a total of €37.6 million, with 27 existing LSSIF projects benefitting, bringing the total awarded to date to LSSIF-funded projects to €124 million. The additional funding for projects is being provided, in response to delays experienced by grantees arising from the pandemic and construction inflation, following engagement with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.

Minister Martin and I also recently confirmed that a new round of the LSSIF will open for applications in the first half of 2024, with the dates, terms and conditions to be published on the Department’s website in due course.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The application to which the Deputy refers has been made under the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP) rather than the Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF).

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.

The latest round of the SCEP (2023) closed for applications on Friday 8 September. A preliminary examination of the submitted applications demonstrates that the Programme has again generated a very large number of applications, including one from the organisation to which the Deputy refers, and it is evident that the total number will exceed the previous record of 3,106 applications submitted under the last (2020) round.

The "Scoring Assessment and Assessment Manual" for the 2023 round has been finalised and I hope to have this published shortly. Simultaneously, I also plan to publish the full list of all applications received by county including the relevant sport type for each application received. Once these documents are published, the detailed assessment work can commence. In this regard, it is planned to assess the "equipment-only" applications first and announce these grants in the coming months. Work will then commence on assessing the capital applications with the allocations likely to be announced later in 2024.

It should be noted that all future funding for capital investment will be conditional on men and women having similar access to the facility.