The previous Government, under the leadership of the Taoiseach, introduced an important grant scheme, the large scale sport infrastructure fund. It was a welcome innovation by the Taoiseach and the then Minister with responsibility for sport, Shane Ross. It involved an initial capital allocation of more than €100 million. As the Taoiseach is aware, many sports clubs and organisations around the country are looking to build large-scale facilities but with a cap of €300,000 on funding available under the sports capital and equipment programme, many of these major projects simply cannot go ahead. Several projects were allocated funding under the large scale sport infrastructure fund in January 2020 and I welcome the money that was allocated to projects in my constituency of Galway West. Those projects included the redevelopment of the Sportsground in Galway city by Connacht Rugby, the Galway regional aquatic centre and the Renville sports and community centre facilities in Oranmore, which I was delighted to see getting full planning permission from An Bord Pleanála in recent weeks.

The fund was very much welcomed by all the major sporting organisations. It was endorsed by the GAA, the IRFU, the FAI and many others. However, the fund has effectively been stalled since these allocations were announced more than three years ago. I firmly believe there is a real need for it to be reintroduced. It may sound obvious but international studies have shown that the presence of good sports facilities is associated with participation in physical activity and improved health among the general public as a result. These facilities also serve to bring communities together. The country needs such a scheme to be operational again. Will the Taoiseach and his Government seriously consider the reintroduction of a large scale sport infrastructure fund in the forthcoming negotiations on the next budget?

I thank the Deputy. Government funding for larger sports projects was previously provided on an ad hoc basis until the large scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF, was launched in 2018 to provide an open and transparent system. The LSSIF is designed to provide funding for larger sports facility projects where the amount being sought by applicants is greater than the funding available under the normal sports capital programme. Following a detailed assessment process, the first allocations under the LSSIF were announced in January 2020 and so far, approximately €86 million has been allocated to 33 different projects. In terms of existing grants, so far only four projects have drawn down funding to date. The new athletics facility in Newcastle West is almost complete. The design work to replace Dalymount Park is almost complete. Construction has commenced in Walsh Park in Waterford. I am told construction has also commenced in Newbridge. It should be noted that allocations were announced in January 2020, just prior to the pandemic, which slowed progress considerably.

Representatives of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media met with all of the grantees as part of the Department's review of the fund. In addition to the four projects I mentioned, we now believe that 17 additional projects will be able to draw down some funding this year. That represents significant progress. The priority in the short term is to advance these existing projects but the possibility of opening a new call for proposals will be considered as part of the Estimates process in advance of budget 2024.

The immediate priority is to enable the projects that have funding granted to them to draw down some of that funding. The Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, working with the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, are very keen to open up a new round of funding for small clubs for capital and equipment, which happens every year, and they are also working on that.

I welcome the Taoiseach’s commitment to look at renewing this funding programme. I will outline what the allocation to the Renville sports and community grounds meant to a community like Oranmore. This project is a joint one by the local Oranmore Maree GAA club, the camogie clubs and the Naomh Mhuire ladies football club. Between them, they field an impressive 90 teams. They plan to construct a sports centre of excellence in Renville and Oranmore on a 34-acre site to include four new playing pitches and a covered terrace as well as community facilities like a public playground and walkway.

They were allocated €2.1 million in 2020 under the large scale sports infrastructure fund to develop these facilities and more than €1 million has been raised locally. This is just one community of 10,000 people who would never have been able to provide such an ambitious facility without the support of the large scale sports infrastructure fund. I ask the Taoiseach to give other communities around the country the same opportunity the Government gave to the Renville sports facility and Maree GAA club in Oranmore. I strongly urge the Government to reintroduce a new large scale sports infrastructure fund grant scheme in the forthcoming budget.

We will certainly give that consideration. I think all of us in this House can agree that funding for sports and funding for sports capital is taxpayers' money really well spent. I am a former Minister for sport. I have seen in my constituency how sporting facilities have been transformed from the national sports campus to local clubs across Dublin 15 and Dublin 7. It benefits us in so many different ways. It creates local jobs in communities all over the country often for relatively small construction firms. It is good for physical health, good for children, good for mental health, good for community and also helps to nurture those new athletes of the future who go on to high performance and win medals and trophies for the country. There are very few better ways to spend taxpayers' money than on sport. I assure the Deputy that we are working together to make sure we make progress on all of those things over the course of the year.