€56m allocated to 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 announced €56m in allocations under the 2017 round of the Sports Capital Programme (SCP) to over 1,700 different sporting projects.

The SCP is the primary means of providing Government funding for capital projects to sport and community organisations at local, regional and national level. The 2017 round of the Programme closed for applications on the 24th February and by that date a record number of 2,320 applications were received.

Minister Ross said “This is a great day for Irish sport. When we originally invited applications under the scheme, we had just €30m to allocate and the record level of applications would have left a large number of good projects unsupported and many clubs disappointed. Happily, following the conclusion of budget discussions, I was delighted to secure the required additional resources to enable me to allocate €56m in total to local sports clubs and organisations throughout the country. The net result of this is that we are able to provide financial assistance towards over 1700 different projects all over the country. The benefits of participating in sport are well documented, for both physical and mental health, and these new grants for local clubs will help us in our overall objective of getting as many people participating in sport as possible. The grants are also excellent news for our communities both rural and urban, as club sport is a superb way to bolster local pride, affinity and inclusion.”

Minister of State Brendan Griffin T.D., highlighted the importance of the programme:- “Anybody with even a passing interest in sport will be aware of the importance of the Sports Capital Programme and the difference it has made to practically every community both large and small in the country. The €56 million in grants which we have announced will ensure that this excellent work continues and will ensure that the backlog of schemes which were awaiting funding can be cleared. In the region of 50 different sports benefitted from the grants announced today and every county has benefitted substantially from the extra resources we secured. While the individual grants vary from a few hundred euros to €150,000, every single one of the grants can make a significant difference to their community. I want to commend the many volunteers for their efforts in submitting the applications and I look forward to seeing their efforts coming to fruition in the coming months.”

Full details of all allocations on a county basis are set out on the Department’s website. www.sportscapitalprogramme.ie

A further €4m has been set aside for regional grants (with maximum grants of up to €200,000) and these allocations are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.