North Inner City clubs should register now for Sports Capital Grants – McAdam

Fine Gael North Inner City Councillor, Ray McAdam has confirmed that €40 million is available to develop sports infrastructure around the country, and has encouraged local clubs and sports organisations to prepare for the application process and register online now.

“My Fine Gael colleague, the Minister for Sport Brendan Griffin, has confirmed to me that €40 million is going to be made available to develop sports infrastructure around the country under the Sports Capital Programme in 2018.

“I want to see local clubs and organisations benefit as much as possible from this funding and so I encourage all involved to prepare the necessary paperwork for their applications in advance.

North Inner City clubs and sports organisations looking to apply should register now at www.sportscapitalprogramme.ie. Applications can only be made online since last Friday (7th September) until 5pm on Friday 19th October, 2018.”

“The Sports Capital Programme was re-instated by the last Fine Gael government in 2012, after it had been cut by Fianna Fáil in the wake of the economic crash.

“It represents an excellent value for money investment for society.

“It is crucial we invest in sport and the health of our population, particularly with obesity is on the rise. Investing in sport is good for the health of the nation, both literally and economically.

“This scheme has proved very successful in getting much needed funding to our local clubs,” the Fine Gael Councillor said.

Minister of State, Brendan Griffin highlighted the changes to the terms of the new programme. “While the Sports Capital Programme is already hugely popular with sports clubs across so many different sporting disciplines, we are determined to make the application process as simple and user-friendly as possible.

“We undertook a detailed review of the 2017 round of the Sports Capital Programme and the recommendations arising have been fully factored in to the new terms and conditions of the 2018 scheme.  In particular, we are introducing some significant changes in our assessment methodology to ensure that we minimise the number of invalid applications.

“We will also give even greater priority to applications from disadvantaged areas and projects that promote the sharing of sports facilities with other clubs and the wider community.”

Welcoming the opening of applications, Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton said, “I’m delighted that this year, following an agreement by both my own Department and the Department of Tourism, Transport and Sport, that all schools may now be able to avail of the Sports Capital Grant Scheme as long as they do so in conjunction with a sports club. This is a great opportunity and I encourage all interested schools to apply.”