Sports Funding
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-20
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Charlie McConalogue (FF), Donegal

I thank Deputy O'Meara for raising this and for his advocacy on behalf of clubs in his constituency. As he will know, the programme for Government commits to maintaining sports funding to get more people participating in all levels of sport, particularly targeting cohorts in society where there are lower than average participation levels. The community sport facilities fund provides grants to assist in the development or refurbishment of sports facilities and the provision of sports equipment.
Its purpose is to develop high-quality, accessible, safe, well-designed and sustainable facilities in appropriate locations and to provide appropriate equipment to help maximise participation in sport and physical recreation.
Over 19,000 projects have benefited from the fund to the tune of over €1.4 billion since it was first established in 1998. Over €250 million was allocated in the most recent round with over 3,000 clubs benefiting from that, representing the largest ever investment in sports facilities. Over 40 different sports benefited from the fund as well.
The objective now in the plan - I know Deputy O’Meara’s key question is when the next one will be - is to be able to support those clubs that need support. We plan to have completed another round of the community sports facility fund by the end of this year, opening up in early summer with applications over the course of the summer and with the aim of having decisions made by the end of the year. I am also currently inviting sporting organisations to information and consultation evenings on the community sports facilities fund. We will be in Kilkenny. The Deputy tends to north-west Kilkenny very well, I know. I will be there on Thursday night. We will be seeing some clubs on Tuesday night in Wexford with the Deputy’s colleague, Deputy Malcolm Byrne. This is about helping to prepare clubs for the next round and also to gain their feedback on what is most important for them and where they are finding the pressures, so we can make sure that the next round is tailored to best support clubs at ground level in terms of the phenomenal work they do providing facilities in communities.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:31+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-20