€26M for 615 new sports projects announced by Ring

Minister of State for Tourism & Sport Michael Ring has announced almost €26 million in new funding for local sports projects across the country, the first round of sports capital funding in four years.

Speaking at the announcement Minister Ring, said: ‘I am excited about the allocations being made today. These allocations will benefit people in every county by giving them more opportunities to get involved in sport, whatever their ability. This funding will allow a diverse array of sports clubs and groups to build and improve much-needed facilities, or to purchase sports equipment’.

The 2012 round of the Sports Capital Programme is the first round of the programme since 2008. New criteria were introduced for this year’s programme with a particular emphasis on clubs in disadvantaged areas.

Between 1998 and 2010, €140 per person was provided in sports capital funding across the country. However, the allocations to individual counties varied significantly. While the best performing county got €196 of sports funding on a per capita basis, other counties got only a little over half of that. Therefore on this occasion funding has been allocated on a per-capita basis to each county with a weighting for past performance.

A total of 2,170 applications were received, the highest number of applications ever received under the Programme. These applications sought a total of €229 million in funding. Further allocations of €4 million will be made to national and regional projects in the coming weeks.

The Sports Capital Programme is the Government’s main vehicle for supporting the development of sports facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment.

Main features of the 2012 Sports Capital Programme are:

• Total fund of €30 million available for allocation.
• Some clubs previously excluded were able to apply this year. For the first time clubs and organisations which do not own their land or do not have a long lease were able to apply for modest grants of up to €25,000 to upgrade facilities.

The allocations announced include funding for:

o   Natural grass sports pitches, tracks and courts (including pitch drainage)
o   Floodlighting
o   Artificial sports pitches, tracks, courts and multi-use games areas
o   Security fencing and ball stop netting
o   Hurling walls / handball alleys
o   Building or refurbishment of dressing rooms, showers and toilets
o   Building or refurbishment of sports halls and gyms
o   Non-personal sports equipment
o   Shared facilities
o   Any other capital projects that are clearly sporting in nature and that will increase participation in sport or improve performance

See the complete list of allocations here