Catherine Martin T.D., Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and Thomas Byrne T.D., Minister of State for Sport, Physical Education and the Gaeltacht, have announced funding of up to €120m under the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF), which opened for applications on the 26th of April 2024.
Assessment of applications, for funding of between €600,000 and €30m, will take into account population size, sustainability, reducing administrative overheads and ensuring that similar access is provided to accommodate access by men and women to LSSIF-funded facilities.
Applications for the 2024 round of LSSIF must be submitted by 1st of July 2024 @ 3pm .
The National Sports Policy was published on 25 July 2018 and provided for a Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The aim of the fund is to provide Exchequer support for larger sports facility projects. These would be projects where the Exchequer investment would be greater than the maximum amount available under the Sports Capital Programme (SCP). In some cases, these may be projects where the primary objective will be to increase active participation in sport. In other cases, these may be large scale venues/stadia where the focus is more related to social participation and high performance sport. Initially, the scheme will have a particular focus on National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) and Local Authorities. New swimming pool projects will also be considered. All project proposals will be subject to appropriate economic analysis.
The government has provided a capital allocation of at least €100 million over the period 2018 to 2027 for the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund.
While this programme is aimed primarily at the NGBs and Local Authorities it was also open to other bodies, philanthropic funders, clubs and voluntary organisations to apply but such applications would necessarily have to be made and prioritised by a Local Authority and/or an NGB.
All grants awarded for capital projects under this scheme must comply with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Circular 13/2014 (Management and Accountability of grants from Exchequer Funds).
The scheme outline provides links to certain sections of the government's guidelines on procurement. The full suite of guidance notes are available.