Sport Northern Ireland has announced the allocation of £4.2m (€4.9m) in funding for golf clubs as part of the Northern Ireland Sports Sustainability Fund.
The fund’s purpose is to help address the economic consequences of the COVID-19 health pandemic affecting the sports sector. It aims to provide the financial interventions needed to stabilise and withstand the worst impacts of COVID-19.
Eligible sports clubs were invited to apply for funding, via the National Governing Bodies, at the end of 2020 and to be considered for funding, applicants must have met the criteria and conditions set out by Sport NI. Applications closed in January 2021 and Sport NI then began the process of verifying the applications received.
£10.8 million of funding in the first tranche was announced earlier this month with The Irish Football Association being awarded £6.5 million, Ulster Rugby £1.5 million and Ulster GAA £1.44 million.
It has now been confirmed that 26 golf clubs will now receive funding.
The two largest single grants will go to Royal County Down and Royal Portrush who will receive £1,562,452 and £757,638 respectively.
This is a double boost following the news last week that clubs would be permitted to open up, with protocols in place, from the start of April.
“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a severe financial impact on golf clubs which, despite being closed for long periods over the last 12 months, have significant costs to bear in maintaining facilities and the courses themselves,” said Mark Kennelly, Chief Executive of Golf Ireland.
“Golf Ireland is committed to supporting its affiliated clubs in every way we can, and we are delighted that this funding has been secured for clubs in Northern Ireland.”
“A total of 26 clubs will receive funding from this scheme in addition to 145 clubs who benefitted from Sport Ireland Resilience Funding in the Republic of Ireland. Additionally, we hope that several more will benefit from Fáilte Ireland’s Business Continuity Fund in the near future.”
“I’d like to express our thanks to The NI Executive, Department of Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey for the funding and to Sport Northern Ireland for considering the submissions that Golf Ireland made on behalf of golf clubs. Their response underlines the vital role of golf in our sports landscape”.
Applications included submission of club accounts which were used to calculate an average over 3 years and were open to any club that could demonstrate that there had been a direct impact on its business because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Initial club applications were adjusted, following direction from Sport NI to remove any VAT Refund or Corporation Tax payments that impacted upon the amount to be claimed.
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