Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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956. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment for a breakdown of funding provided to sport by scheme (details supplied) in each of the past five years, by women’s and men’s sport, and by sport type, in tabular form. [58657/25]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Government investment in sport is essential to increasing participation levels in all sports, across all sectors of society. The allocation for the Sports Programme in Budget 2026 is over €290 million, an increase of just under €60 million or 26% compared to the 2025 allocation. When the National Sports Policy was published in 2018, it set a commitment to double investment in sport to more than €220 million by 2027, so we now have well exceeded that commitment.

Government has invested well over €1 billion in sports infrastructure and development in Ireland since 2018. The return on this investment in terms of community participation, inclusion, integration, and physical and mental wellbeing, is substantial. From grassroots participation to elite and high-performance athletes, we are dedicated to supporting our sporting ecosystem and improving Ireland’s standing as a sporting nation.

Sport Ireland, which is funded by my Department, is the statutory body with responsibility for the development of sport, increasing participation at all levels and raising standards. It also has responsibility for the allocation of funding across its various programmes. I have referred the Deputy's question to Sport Ireland for direct reply in relation to some of these matters. I would ask the Deputy to inform my office if a reply is not received within 10 days.

Neither my Department, nor Sport Ireland, has responsibility for Local Authority grants which fall under the remit of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

My Department operates two capital funding programmes for sport, the Community Sport Facilities Fund (CSFF), formerly known as the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP), and the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF).

The LSSIF was established under the National Sports Policy, published on 25 July 2018, to provide Exchequer support for larger sports facility projects, typically those requiring investments greater than the maximum available under the CSFF/SCEP. The aim of the LSSIF is to provide investment in sporting infrastructure that will reinforce the Department’s stated sporting objectives such as increasing active participation in sport, including female participation and participation by those with a disability as well as increasing social participation and improving high performance in sport.

Under the most recent round of the LSSIF, grants totalling €173 million, benefiting 35 individual projects, were announced on 4 November 2024. With this announcement, the cumulative investment from the LSSIF since 2020 now reaches €297 million. The majority of LSSIF-funded projects are multi-sport in nature and a full list is available on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-culture-communications-and-sport/campaigns/large-scale-sport-infrastructure-fund-lssif/

The Similar Access Requirement, published on 3 April 2024, states that recipients of LSSIF funding must accommodate the needs of women and men, on a similar basis, with respect to accessing the facilities that have been allocated public funding. Any organisation that is in receipt of LSSIF funding must have a Similar Access Policy in place.

With regard to the CSFF, all grantees must sign a declaration that, from the date of the grant, they will not deny anybody access to any facility or part of a facility for which they received a grant on the grounds of gender, civil status, family status, age, disability, race, sexual orientation, religious belief, or membership of the Traveller or Roma community without just, reasonable and proper cause.

The allocations provided under the CSFF/SCEP in the past five years are set out in the table hereunder.