Dear Club,
A new €30 million fund for sports capital projects has been launched by Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Michael Ring TD.
This Programme is the main channel of Government support for developing sports facilities and purchasing sports equipment and is the first programme of sports capital funding for four years.
There have been some amendments from previous Sports Capital schemes in that it will be open to far more football clubs than ever before, because a strict requirement on landownership has been relaxed. In the past, all applicants had to own their land or have it on a long lease, however for the 2012 programme clubs will now be able to apply for grants of up to €25,000 to upgrade facilities provided that they can provide a letter from the owner of the ground being utilised that there is no intention of taking the facility out of sporting use for a minimum period of 5 years.
There was further good news for football clubs when it was announced that that the minimum amount of matching funding which clubs and organisations will need to provide themselves in order to apply for a grant has been halved from the previous round of the programme in 2008:
· Groups in RAPID areas will only need to raise a minimum of 5% of the project cost in order to apply;
· Groups in CLÁR areas will only need to raise a minimum of 10% of the project cost in order to apply;
· Groups in non-disadvantaged areas will only need to raise a minimum of 15% of the project cost in order to apply.
Application forms and information about how to apply is available on the website: www.sportscapitalprogramme.ie
The deadline for applications made online and those made in Irish (and hard copy of the signed application form and all supporting documentation) must reach the Department by 5pm on Friday 1st June 2012.
Paper based applications (and all supporting documentation) must reach the Department by 5pm on Friday 11th May 2012.
I would encourage clubs considering applying to refer to our range of Facility Development Guidance Notes which are available by clicking on the links below;
1. General Guide to Club Developments http://www.fai.ie/images/stories/pdf/Guide_to_Club_Developments.pdf
2. Guidance note on the development of Clubhouses and Dressing Rooms http://www.fai.ie/pdf/Clubhouse_Document.pdf
3. Guidance note on the development of Natural Turf Pitches http://www.fai.ie/images/stories/pdf/Natural_Turf.pdf
4. Guidance note on the development of Floodlights http://www.fai.ie/images/stories/pdf/Floodlighting_Guidelines.pdf
5. Guidance note on the development of Artificial turf Pitches http://www.fai.ie/images/stories/pdf/ArtificialTurfBrochure.pdf
Please address all queries to facilities@fai.ie