Written answers
Wednesday, 14 February 2024
Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht
Sports Facilities
Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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183. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the outcome of the preliminary report on the provision of a swimming pool in Loughrea, County Galway under the local authority swimming pool programme; the reason this project did not progress; if her Department's review of the large scale sport infrastructure fund has been completed; if a report of the review will be completed; if she intends to reopen the fund to provide for the development of public swimming pools in towns such as Loughrea; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6774/24]
Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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In April 2016, a pool project in Loughrea which had been included in the 2000 round of the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme (LASPP) was voluntarily withdrawn from the programme by the local authority. My Department's capital support for new swimming pools is now being provided through the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF)
The National Sports Policy was published on 25 July 2018 and provided for a Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The aim of the fund is to provide Exchequer support for larger sports facility projects. These would be projects where the Exchequer investment would be greater than the maximum amount available under the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP).
It is important to emphasise that the LSSIF is a relatively new scheme with only one call for proposals to date. The first LSSIF allocations were announced just prior to the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic obviously gave rise to significant financial challenges for all grantees with many having to reprioritise their expenditure plans due to reductions in their income streams. In more recent times, the high level of construction inflation has also presented considerable challenges for grantees. In view of these issues, it was considered timely to review progress on all projects allocated grants and meetings with all grantees have taken place. The review is expected to be finalised soon and any issues identified will be addressed as part of the terms and conditions of the next LSSIF call.
Minister Martin and I 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. While the 2019 LSSIF programme was aimed primarily at National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) and Local Authorities it was also open to other bodies, philanthropic funders, clubs and voluntary organisations to apply but such applications would necessarily have to be made and prioritised by a local authority and/or an NGB.
I would encourage all eligible projects to consider applying for this competitive application process when it opens later this year.
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