Council fails to apply to €173mn sports fund
The government announced €173 million in funding to 35 major sports projects across the country last week, however, none of that funding will find its way to Waterford after Waterford City & County Council did not make an application to the fund.
The lack of application from Waterford has left Green Party TD Marc Ó Cathasaigh “intensely disappointed” as the council may have to wait up to 5 years to make an application to this fund. “This is a real missed opportunity – we’re likely to have to wait another 5 years before this funding stream is open for applications again.”
Ministers Catherine Martin and Thomas Byrne announced the €173m in grants under the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund. All applications submitted under the sports fund were required to have the endorsement of a National Governing Body for Sport or a Local Authority. Funding decisions were made on the ability enhance sports participation, sustainability, similar access for both men and women, said the Department.
Given the long wait for the next round of funding applications, Deputy Ó Cathasaigh said he is "intensely disappointed that no application for the Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund was submitted by Waterford Council – over €170m was disbursed without any benefit here in Waterford.”
“I had engaged with the Council Executive on three ideas that I felt had real merit – the restoration of the Goff Cycle Track, Ireland’s first velodrome in the People’s Park, a much-needed integrated sports facility in Tramore and the long-running campaign for a public swimming pool in Dungarvan. I had reached out to National Governing bodies and stood ready to make the connections needed to get a successful application across the line.”
Deputy Ó Cathasaigh described it as a “real missed opportunity” and said he does “understand there’s been significant churn at the top of Waterford Council’s executive team, but our elected councillors have really dropped the ball here by not ensuring it was kept at the top of the agenda.”
“As national representatives, we need to be given the tools to work with in order to deliver for Waterford – without an application to support, even after making the initial running on these three viable projects, I had no way to get a result on this. There’s a clear, demonstrable need for projects of this scale and ambition in Waterford – we need our local councillors to be switched on to these opportunities and ensure that Waterford is in the game and not left on the sidelines.”
A statement from Waterford City and County Council said they “did not make any applications to the Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund as there were no projects which met all the criteria.”
