I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and I know that Raheny Shamrocks is a club to which he is very committed. His question today relates to the potential for a visit from me to the clubhouse, which is something that both Deputies Heneghan and Brabazon have raised with me. I received an invitation from Deputy Brabazon previously and I responded to the effect that I will be visiting the club on 20 May. I look forward to seeing both Deputies then and to meeting club members. The club has a wonderful history and a great tradition. Raheny Shamrocks is an iconic athletics club, not just in Dublin but across the country. It is one of the oldest athletics clubs in the country, with former members, including Olympians Dick Hooper, Pat Hooper, Paddy McGrath, Mick Clohisey and most recently, Sophie Becker. The club is also very well known nationally for hosting the Raheny five mile road race which raises very significant funds for the local hospice and is one of the most anticipated five mile runs in the racing calendar. As the Deputy knows, the Department runs two capital funding programmes for sport, namely, the community sports facilities fund, CSFF, formerly the sports capital and equipment fund, and the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF. Over a quarter of a billion euro was allocated to over 3,000 community sports clubs and facilities in 2024 from the 2023 round of the CSFF. That represented the largest ever investment in sports facilities in communities across Ireland. Raheny Shamrock Athletic Club previously received funding under CSFF in 2018 and again in 2020. In 2024, the second round of the LSSIF was launched and received an unprecedented demand for funding of €665 million. Out of the 96 clubs that applied, 35 were successful, with €173 million allocated. Raheny Shamrocks submitted an application to that fund which was not successful. Should additional funding become available, we are assessing how that can be dealt with in terms of a reserve list. I very much look forward to meeting Raheny Shamrock Athletic Club during my visit, seeing the proposals and meeting Deputies Heneghan and Brabazon and committee members on 20 May.
Sentiment score: 0.09
I know the club has done wonderful work there historically but also in terms of seeking to develop the club in recent years. It was supported in 2018 and 2020 through sports capital grants. I know it purchased a new building in Raheny and is considering how it can develop it having purchased the old Catholic church in Raheny village. I look forward to seeing how we can work with it in the time ahead. We will open sports capital grants next year. The large scale sports infrastructure grants first opened in 2019, with the second round in 2024. We will look at how that evolves over the next period. Of the €297 million allocated in the past year for sports generally, €79 million was allocated to athletics initiatives on a national scale. Under the large scale sports infrastructure fund, six projects were backed by Athletics Ireland and were awarded €25 million.
Sentiment score: 0.19
I thank Deputy Ó Muirí for his representations and support for the club. The challenge at a national level is the number of asks. If we look at the large scale infrastructure fund most recently, we can see that there were 96 applications nationally and, of these, 35 projects were successful. This meant that €173 million in total was allocated out of an ask in terms of the numbers that came in of €665 million. This is always the challenge but we have seen significant progress in backing the wonderful clubs across all our sports nationally. They all want to do more, we want to back them in doing more and we will be considering how we can do that in terms of additional funding. I look forward to seeing Deputies Heneghan, Ó Muirí and Brabazon with the club when I visit in the coming days.
Sentiment score: 0.35
I propose to take Questions Nos. 100, 105, 108 and 137 together. I thank the Deputies for their questions. The programme for Government commits to supporting the sporting community across the country to ensure more people participate, reap the benefits of sport and fulfil their potential from grassroots right up to high-performance level. We are achieving this and will continue to achieve it through a number of measures, including maintaining sports funding to get more people participating at all levels of sport, particularly targeting cohorts in society where there are lower than average participation levels. This includes people with disabilities and older people. The community sport facilities fund is the primary vehicle for Government support for the development of sports and recreation facilities. We had a round of that last year with significant investment and more than 3,000 community sports clubs and facilities received record funding under that. Under the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, significant funding of €173 million was announced in November last year, supporting 35 projects. Cork is the particular focus of Deputy Burke's question. We saw €7.3 million paid to 130 sporting organisations, and allocations of €32.5 million were made to 367 Cork sporting organisations across the large-scale sport infrastructure fund and community sport facilities fund. That is €32 million in total for Cork. Since 2018, that figure is €77 million. One of the largest projects funded to date under the first large-scale sport infrastructure fund was the Athletics Ireland and Munster Technological University, formerly CIT, community sport project on the Bishopstown campus of the university. The project was awarded large-scale sport infrastructure fund funding of €9.2 million in January 2020 and additional funding in December 2023 of just over €5 million, bringing the total for the project to €14.3 million for all three phases. To date, we have seen €4.1 million of that drawn down. That is significant support for Cork, as well as across the country. We look forward to continuing to support clubs to develop their sporting facilities through future rounds.
Sentiment score: 0.20
It has been wonderful in recent years to see the strong increase in participation across many sports and how that has been driven forward and facilitated by the wonderful volunteer ethos at local level in terms of organising and facilitating so much sports activity through clubs on an ongoing basis. There is also great work in terms of leveraging sports capital grants and developing those facilities. That is something we want to continue to back, as a Government, and I know it is something the Deputy wants to see continue in Cork. We will be reviewing the criteria for how we do future sports capital funding grant applications to make sure we are leveraging those funds as much as possible. We also want to make sure different clubs are coming together as much as possible at municipal facilities, for example, so we make the maximum use of the facilities that are being built to benefit as many people as possible in the local community. We have seen significant progress in Cork, and the Deputy mentioned Glanmire as somewhere he would like to see further funding go in. We will be looking at all of those and offering future opportunities to see how we can continue the work that is under way and the significant progress that has been made to date.
Sentiment score: 0.63
I would certainly be delighted to visit because it sounds like one of the prime examples of what is possible and how, by collaborating, we can maximise the impact of this investment. That is something we want to see more of across the country and, anywhere there is an opportunity to do that, to back it. We are also looking at how we can work in as strong a way as possible through integrating and working with schools and school settings so those facilities that might not otherwise be used often during the day, where possible, can be available close to the schools. It is about taking a strategic approach, continuing to back the wonderful work that clubs are doing and making sure the investment they are making, and the State is making to support them, is delivering the best possible return on participation in local communities and giving opportunities for people across all ages and capabilities to participate in sporting activity.
Sentiment score: 0.69
I thank Deputy Ó Murchú. I know of the great excitement in the county this week in the run-up to the Leinster final this weekend. It has been added to by the under-age success, which has been wonderful to see and is a great reflection on the great work done by Louth GAA at all levels. I look forward to seeing the game this weekend. If it is half as dramatic as the previous one, I am sure it will grip the entire country. With regard to Deputy Ó Murchú's query on the large-scale sports infrastructure fund application made by Louth GAA last year for a new stadium in Dundalk, he knows the background to this with regard to the fact there was no funding in this particular round. I welcome and note the recent announcement by Louth GAA that it has agreed a funding package to commence development of a new stadium in Dundalk. The large-scale sports infrastructure fund application was for the second part, or phase 2, of the stadium, with phase 1 commencing with the potential for a 4,000-seater stand. We had approximately €680 million of applications to the large-scale infrastructure fund last year, with €167 million awarded to 37 projects throughout the country. We are now assessing whether additional funding can become available and how a reserve list could potentially operate for those who were not successful in getting funding last year, and Louth GAA will be considered in this context. It is certainly welcome to see the recent announcement on Louth GAA being able to commence and having the finances to develop the new stadium, which I know will be of great benefit to it. I wish Louth GAA well with it and I look forward to engaging further with it on its plans and its future potential.
Sentiment score: 0.36
The LSSIF was first announced with a funding round in 2019. It is a relatively new fund in that regard, with the objective of trying to ensure that the Government can work to support the development of large-scale sporting facilities across the country. So far, we have had two rounds, in 2019 and 2024. Between both of those, €297 million has been invested, which is making a significant impact on the development of really good facilities across the country. We had 96 applications in the most recent round, 35 of which benefited from funding. The demand was much higher than the level of funding. The potential for additional funding is something we have to consider. That is very much subject to the budgetary capacity for that and, alongside that, the capacity for a reserve list as well for those applicants not successful previously. I know the benefit it would be to County Louth. It is great to see the stadium progressing and Louth GAA moving forward with it. Certainly, we will consider it in the context of future funding opportunities as well in phase 2.
Sentiment score: 0.25
It will be very much dependent on funding. That is something on which we will have engagement in the budgetary process to see what the potential is. The opening and announcement of new funding under the sports capital grant and the regional grants under the sports capital facilities fund have generally been every two years. I expect in the first part of next year to open up the sports facilities fund. On the large-scale funding, there have only been two rounds so far, in 2019 and 2014. The funding requirement for that is heavy. It will certainly be our objective to try to do it within a shorter timeframe in terms of a new round but that will be entirely dependent on the budget as well. The focus for now is making sure that those who receive funding move forward and in the short term, assessing the potential for additional funding or, in relation to those that were not successful in the most recent round, additional capacity.
Sentiment score: 0.16