Impossible as it is to please all of the people all of the time, the record overall package of €150 million in new capital grants under the latest round of the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme (SCEP), which opened in 2020, has been widely welcomed across Irish sport.
The programme sees €144 million allocated to some 1,900 successful applications from across the 26 counties, with €6 million kept in reserve for successful appeals lodged by those considered unsuccessful.
In all more than 3,000 sporting bodies, clubs, schools and other sporting organisations applied for funding. Applications began in 2020 and closed in March last year.
The allocation sees €17.2 million assigned to regional projects, and €126.7 million on projects divided by county; as ever, Dublin is the largest recipient there, receiving more than €16 million in grant aid, followed by Cork (€13.9 million), Galway (€8.8 million), Limerick (€6.8 million) and Tipperary (€6.3 million).
A total of 35 sports are also represented - the GAA, rugby and soccer still the big three beneficiaries. In announcing the package, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin said: “Sport is crucial for all communities in Ireland. There was a record number of applications for these grants and the government responded with the most significant level of individual awards ever.
“So this is a great day for sports clubs and community groups right around the country and I want to congratulate all of the successful applicants. It has been a tough two years for many sports clubs but the pandemic really demonstrated the importance of sport for our collective wellbeing. The grants we are announcing today will significantly improve sports facilities in every county. There is a huge variety of different sports covered and I was particularly pleased that the scoring system placed an even greater emphasis on female participation.”
Among the 18 projects to benefit in her own constituency of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council was the Meadowbrook facility (€166,757), Fernhill Gardens changing rooms (€151,320), St Olaf’s GAA club (€150,000) and Dundrum South Dublin Athletics (€150,000).
Minister of State with responsibility for Sport, Jack Chambers also welcomed the large number of grantees and the wide variety of sports funded: “Anybody involved in sport at local level knows the importance of the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme.
“Covid revealed to us all the importance of community and I am particularly pleased that so many community centres and organisations have been allocated funding to develop projects in towns and villages across the country. If we want to achieve our participation targets, we must provide high quality facilities and that is what today’s announcement is all about. “
League of Ireland clubs received more than €1.7 million in funding, Shamrock Rovers welcoming the news of the awarding of a sport capital grant of €149,448 towards the installation of LED Floodlights on their grass pitches at their academy facility at Roadstone.
The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath, said the increased funding reflects Government’s ongoing support to Sport during the Covid pandemic as it emerges from the challenges of the past two years.
The 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 €1.1 billion.
Around 1,000 of the submitted applications were for equipment-only projects. These applications were assessed first and grants with a total value of €16.6m were already announced last August.
County-by-county
Carlow €1,997,741
Cavan €2,683,887
Clare €4,683,157
Cork €13,950,349
Donegal €5,624,151
Dublin €16,098,632
Galway €8,849,861
Kerry €5,500,857
Kildare €5,405,906
Kilkenny €2,790,811
Laois €3,317,114
Leitrim €1,109,632
Limerick €6,839,148
Longford €1,084,699
Louth €4,064,566
Mayo €4,324,887
Meath €6,277,700
Monaghan 2,150,006
Offaly €2,724,122
Roscommon €2,187,908
Sligo €2,183,338
Tipperary €6,333,632
Waterford €4,429,123
Westmeath 3,338,499
Wexford €4,925,989
Wicklow €3,798,529
Grand Total: €126,674,242.00
