€5 million allocated to 7 Major Sports Projects

Shane Ross T.D., Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, and Brendan Griffin T.D. Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, today (13 January 2020) announced the second set of allocations under the new Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The grants total €4.97 million with 7 individual projects benefitting.

The grants announced today represent the successful Stream 1 proposals which are applications seeking funding towards the cost of developing projects to the point that an application for construction work can be submitted in the future.

Stream 2 applications related to applications for funding the construction of facilities and grants totalling €77.4 million to 25 individual projects were announced last Friday (10 January 2020).

The successful applicants were decided following a rigorous assessment process with the highest scoring applications receiving grant offers. All applications under the fund had to be supported by a National Governing Body for Sport (NGB) or a Local Authority. The priority given to projects by the relevant NGB(s) or local authority was one of the key determinants of the assessment score along with factors such as the likelihood of increasing sport participation, how the proposed project would improve high performance and whether the proposed development would benefit spectators.

Commenting on the announcement Minister Ross said: “We were delighted to announce significant funding for major sports facilities in recent days. It is well established that participation in sport plays a significant role in improving people’s health and wellbeing. It is particularly important to get our young people involved in sports and to do so, we must have good quality, safe and attractive sports facilities. The grants we are announcing today in addition to the 25 grants announced on Friday last, will help deliver state-of the –art facilities across the country and across a variety of sports.”

Minister Griffin said “We know that sporting success at high-performance level has the ability to lift the spirits of entire communities. To achieve this high level success however, we need to invest in facilities across the country to nurture these talents. Enhanced investment in sports facilities has been a key policy objective of the Government and this commitment has been borne out by the recent allocations under the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund but also through our continued investment in the Sports Capital Programme.”

Additional Information

The National Sports Policy published in 2018 provided for the establishment of a Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The aim of the fund is to provide support for larger sports facilities where the Exchequer investment is greater than the maximum amount (€300,000) available under the Sports Capital Programme (SCP). Project Ireland 2040, the National Development Plan (NDP) provides at least €100 million for the LSSIF from 2019 to 2027.

The LSSIF supports investment in Sporting Infrastructure that will reinforce the principles outlined in the Department’s National Sports Policy by

• Increasing and improving the quality of active participation in sport

• Increasing and improving the quality of social participation in sport

• Improving High Performance in sport

• Increasing Active Participation in sport by people with a disability.

There are two streams of funding within the grant scheme –

STREAM ONE concerns assistance in the development of detailed plans and cost effective analysis for a proposed project. 38 applications were received for this type of funding, the amount of funding sought was €17,758,371. The grants announced today relate to these projects.

STREAM TWO provides assistance for the construction or delivery of a project. 34 applications were received for this type of funding and grants totalling €77.4 million with 25 individual projects benefitting were announced last Friday (10 January 2020).

The full terms and conditions of the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund and allocations are available at https://www.gov.ie/en/service/4113b3-large-scale-sport-infrastructure-fund-lssif/