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 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 new swimming pool projects and the refurbishment of existing swimming pools eligible to apply for LSSIF grant funding subject to published guidelines and regulations. The first LSSIF allocations were announced in January 2020 and thus far €124 million has been awarded to 33 different proposals including 8 swimming pool projects.

Minister Martin and I recently confirmed that a new round of the LSSIF will open for applications in 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.