Funding for Bray Clubs in Sports Capital Programme

Cllr. Caroline Burrell said: “Participation in sport is important for many reasons. Sporting activity plays an increasingly important role in the health and well-being of our urban communities. This applies to each individual citizen and to the community as a whole. Sports facilities that are well-planned, built and managed have the ability to act as focal points for the community and allow more people to get involved in healthy activities. For individuals, participation has health benefits, builds confidence and gives people a sense of their worth. Sport can help towards reducing anti-social behaviour while sporting success has the ability to lift the spirits of whole counties and even the whole county."

The Programme aims to foster an integrated and planned approach to developing sports and physical recreation facilities throughout the country. In particular, its objectives are to:

• assist voluntary and community organisations to develop high quality, safe, well-designed and sustainable facilities in appropriate locations to help maximise participation in sport and physical recreation;
• prioritise the needs of disadvantaged areas in the provision of sports facilities;
• encourage the multi-purpose use of local, regional and national sports facilities by clubs, community organisations and national governing bodies (NGBs) of sport.

Cllr. Ciaran O'Brien stated, "This allocation builds upon the excellent work of previous rounds of the Programme and continues to support dedicated community spirit and reward local volunteerism. Every pitch that is laid, every changing room that is built and every piece of sport equipment bought, will allow more people to take part in a huge range of sports and help them to achieve their full potential in their chosen sport. We are fortunate in Bray to have so many local clubs who provide a whole range of activities such as soccer, GAA, cycling, sailing, gymnastics and it's good to see them being supported."

Cllr. Steve Matthews said “We congratulate the 18 successful applicants and commend the hard work of the hundreds of local committee members and club officers who made the submissions and continue to provide invaluable energy and skills to their communities on a voluntary basis. The biggest winners were Cycling Ireland, St. Peters Bhoys and the Bray Sailing Club."

Applications are accepted from, or on behalf of:

• voluntary and community organisations, including sports clubs;
• national governing bodies of sport and third level education institutions, where it is shown that the proposed facility will contribute to the regional and/or national sporting infrastructure;
• local authorities, and in certain defined circumstances, schools and colleges.

All applicants, bar some national projects, must provide an element of local funding for the project as per the table below: Facility Minimum own funding in place Local projects 30% of cost of project Local (rural disadvantaged areas CLAR*) 20% of cost of project Local (urban disadvantaged areas RAPID & LDTF*) 10% of cost of project Regional or national Depends on the scale of the proposed facility * CLÁR - Centair Laga Árd-Riachtanais RAPID – Revitalising Areas by Planning Investment and Development LDTF - Local Drugs Task Force areas

For further information please contact:
Caroline Burrell on 086-314 0453; email: burrell@wicklowgreens.org
Ciaran O'Brien on 087-206 0223; email: obrien@wicklowgreens.org
Steve Matthews on 086-277 2947; email: matthews@wicklowgreens.org