Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 April 2023
685. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to provide details on any discussions which have taken place to date within her Department in respect of the proposed large-scale municipal stadium for north Drogheda, further to the recent commencement of phase 1 of the Port Access Northern Cross Route; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17523/23]
View answerMy Department's capital support for any significant new stadium projects is now being provided through the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The first call for proposals under the LSSIF closed in 2019 with applications confined to local authorities and National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of Sport. All applications were assessed in accordance with the published Evaluation Procedures and Guidelines and the first allocations were announced in January 2020. Thus far, approximately €86.4 million has been awarded to 33 different proposals. Full details of all allocations are available at: www.gov.ie/en/service/4113b3-large-scale-sport-infrastructure-fund-lssif/
In relation to a new soccer stadium in Drogheda, an application was received in the 2019 round from the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) for design funding towards a state of the art football stadium and training facility with €600,000 sought. The application was unsuccessful at that time.
All unsuccessful applicants were given the opportunity to appeal the Department’s decision if it was felt that an error was made in the assessment process and an appeal was submitted in this instance by the FAI. All appeals have now been assessed by officials who were not involved in the initial assessment process and no errors were found which would warrant an automatic grant.
While the priority in the short term is to advance the projects that were already allocated funding, a review of the LSSIF Programme is underway. My Department has now met with all successful grantees and work is at an advanced stage in drafting the review. I expect this work to be finalised shortly. As part of that review, the Department is examining, inter alia, progress on all projects awarded funding to date, whether there is any scope to award additional grants and whether there should be a new call for proposals.
