Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I recognise the importance of sport and physical activity for our society and the need to ensure that opportunities are in place to allow all members of society to participate in sport. Sport Ireland, which is funded by my Department, is the statutory body with responsibility for the development of sport, including the promotion of sports participation.

Sport Ireland provides funding to the network of Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs). In 2023, Sport Ireland invested core funding of €10.3 million in the LSPs. The network of 29 LSPs undertakes a wide range of actions with the aim of increasing sport and physical activity participation levels in their local communities. The design, delivery and evaluation of targeted initiatives by LSPs directly increases the level of sports participation locally, particularly amongst the harder to reach social groups such as people with a disability, people from areas of socio-economic disadvantage, ethnic minorities, older adults and women. Through their expertise and local connections with the sports communities, LSPs are able to identify specific needs and deliver effective initiatives accordingly.

Local authorities are key stakeholders in the context of public spaces for sport and physical activity as well as providing opportunities for participation initiatives. Recognising that pivotal role, Sport Ireland is currently assisting Local Authorities to develop Local Sports Plans that will review needs by taking a strategic look at the provision of sports and recreation facilities, infrastructure, programmes and services, with the aim of increasing participation locally. These plans are being developed and implemented in cooperation with Local Sports Partnerships, clubs, communities, and partners within and beyond sport. It is envisaged that all Local Authorities will develop and adopt their own individual Local Sports Plan in 2024.

With regard to capital support, 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 the investment in disadvantaged areas.

The latest round of the SCEP (2023) closed for applications on Friday 8 September, 2023. A preliminary examination of the submitted applications demonstrates that the Programme has again generated a very large number of applications. The total number of 3,210 applications exceeds the record number submitted under the last (2020) round.

The "Scoring System and Assessment Manual" for the 2023 round has been finalised and published along with a list of all applications received by county including the relevant sport type for each application received. The detailed assessment work has commenced and 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 to be announced later.