197. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the match funding arrangements that will be required of successful applicants under the LSSIF announced recently; if different levels will apply to different projects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45977/24]

On Monday last, 4 November, Minister Martin and I announced the second round of funding allocations under the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). This follows the first LSSIF round of allocations announced in January 2020.

The total amount of grants awarded in round 2 is €173 million, benefiting 35 individual projects. With this announcement, the cumulative investment from the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund since 2020 now stands at €297 million.

All applications submitted under the LSSIF Fund were required to have the prioritised endorsement of a National Governing Body for Sport (NGB) or a local authority. This prioritisation was one of a number of factors taken into account in the assessment and ultimate ranking of projects. The assessment and ranking of projects was also informed by factors such as the potential to enhance sports participation, sustainability, similar access for both men and women, and the ability to execute the project within a specified timeframe.

Applicants to the Fund were required to contribute a minimum of 30% of total project costs as match funding. The published guide to applicants stated that "Match funding may be in the form of a combination of wider Exchequer and/or State sector capital expenditure, local authority investment, community investment, philanthropic contributions and private sector investment. Cash-based own funding will receive more favourable assessment. Projects that provide in excess of 30% cash based own funding will also receive more favourable consideration."

The amount of own funding being contributed by applicants under this recent round varied among applicants with some projects committing to own funding contributions significantly in excess of 30%.