Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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385. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will resolve the situation where sports clubs have been unable to draw down grant aid under the sports capital and equipment programme resulting in bridging loans being required and contractors going unpaid in some cases; if an explanation will be provided for the situation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52911/23]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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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.

I fully recognise the increasing pressures that our sporting organisations are under. Under Budget 2024, this Government has announced an overall budget allocation of €183.3 million for sport. That is an increase of €8 million compared to this year.

Recognition of the increasing pressures sports clubs face was also reflected in the significant additional grants allocated under the last round of the SCEP. Under that round alone, €166.6 million was allocated – the highest level of funding for any single round of the Programme.

With regard to future allocations, 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 large number of applications and it is evident that the total number will exceed the previous record of 3,106 applications submitted under the last (2020) round.

Work is now underway on finalising the "Scoring and Assessment Manual" for the 2023 round 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.

In relation to the management of existing grants and the processing of payment requests, the Department will continue to facilitate the payments of grant claims up to year-end.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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386. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to provide an update on an organisation’s application for a sports capital grant (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52972/23]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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The club referred to by the Deputy was allocated €149,000 towards the construction of a gymnasium under the 2020 SCEP.

I am advised that the club has already drawn down part-payment of the grant. No further payment request has been received. Should a further payment request be submitted before year-end, it will be facilitated if it is in order to do so.