Department gets four times more applications for Sports Capital Grants than funds available

More than 2,300 sports clubs and community groups have applied for almost €162m in funding under the Government’s latest round of Sports Capital Grants – but it has only a proposed budget of €40m.

The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport said it had received a record number of applications for funding with a total of 2,337 different organisations seeking grants - including 2,253 local clubs and groups seeking maximum funding of €150,000 each and 84 bodies including local authorities with applications for sums of up to €300,000.