Part of the negotiation for an increase of €53 million to this year’s Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund was the addition of a ‘Use it or Lose it’ clause, put forward by officials in the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and commended by their colleagues in Finance.
A flaw in previous sports capital grant rounds has been the amounts left on the table by projects not going forward, falling foul of independent funding or planning requirements.
Even if the money was not drawn down it remained on the Government books causing a headache in any hope of reallocation.
That has now been addressed and each of the projects named yesterday across our additional coverage of the funding will have its own deadline for progress or completion.
Allied to this is the creation of a reserve list of projects that will be ready to step in should any of the 35 stumble or indeed when any additional money becomes available.
This list still ‘has some work to be done’ and has not yet been published but will give cover for those projects among the 55 that were not listed as they answer to their own stakeholders over the coming weeks.
The reserve list is expected to be graded so coming first as opposed to 30th will make a material difference to the likelihood of a project advancing.
A new stadium for Drogheda United, the redevelopment of the national Basketball Arena and a number of other projects prioritised by sports otr local authorities will be hoping to feature prominently here and to keep the dream alive.
The decision will not be taken before a general election, and whatever that throws up in terms of political discussions around the new programme for government to be negotiated as part of forming the new government may influence it as well.
The 35 will have their to do lists and the 55 their Christmas wish lists.
That is what happens when you have €660 million of requests and, for now, only €173 million to distribute. There are of course other sectors that would take issue with our use of the word ‘only’ in that sentence but every interest group has to fight its corner and Government’s have to be practical as well as aspirational when it comes to making the right decisions.
Additional Reading:
LSSIF Funding Extends to €173 Million, 35 of 90 Projects Given Funding to Proceed
Breaking Down the Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund 2024
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