Sports clubs and schools set for €150m grants

More than 1,900 clubs and schools will receive funding across 35 sports in a major Government allocation worth €150m which will be announced later today.

The record funding allocation was secured following negotiations between Minister with responsibility for Sport Jack Chambers and Michael McGrath, Public Expenditure Minister.

It is the country's largest ever Sports Capital & Equipment Programme distribution.

The assessment process for grant provision was adjusted for this year’s programme with greater marks awarded to projects which would increase female participation, as well as increasing participation for people with disabilities. There was also greater emphasis placed this year on applications which were serving lower socio-economic areas and areas of underdevelopment.

The €150m will cater for clubs, schools, community groups, associations and sports bodies all over the country to develop sports facilities and purchase sports equipment.

The successful applications will be announced later today. All applications were assessed by the Department of Sport officials and considered under a range of criteria and then scored accordingly

Due to the amount of funding secured for this round of funding, all eligible applications have received an allocation - with the highest scoring applications receiving the largest allocations. Many applications received the full amount sought. Some applications were deemed ineligible or invalid following their assessment.

However, in a further change to the programme this year, these applicants will have one final chance to amend their application so may still receive some funding. Several million euro has been set aside for this purpose.

Under the Sports Capital Programme over 13,000 projects have