OVER €300,000 FOR NEW RUNNING TRACK AT CHARLESLAND

CHARLESLAND Athletics Track has been granted the sum of €309,642 to replace the running track at Shoreline Sports Park.

‘We are delighted to have it,’ said a spokeswoman for Shoreline. ‘We’re here since 2006 so it definitely needs to be upgraded.

‘ There are a lot of new houses being built in the area.’

The total cost of the project is €589,795, with owners Wicklow County Council to provide the remaining funds. Staff at Shoreline very much welcome the news.

‘It’s a great contribution to the community. We hope the project will take place as soon as possible,’ said the spokeswoman, who said that they had applied for the funding approximately a year ago.

Minister for Transport Shane Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Brendan Griffin, last Friday announced the first set of allocations under the new Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF). The grants, to a total of €77.4 million, have are being divided between 25 projects.

The successful applicants were decided following a rigorous assessment process with the highest scoring applications receiving grant offers.

All applications under the fund had to be supported by a National Governing Body for Sport (NGB) or a Local Authority. The priority given to projects by the relevant NGB(s) or local authority was one of the key determinants of the assessment score along with factors such as the likelihood of increasing sport participation, how the proposed project would improve high performance and whether the proposed development would benefit spectators.

‘ The establishment of the LSSIF confirmed the commitment expressed in the National Development Plan and the National Sports Policy 2018 – 2027 to increase investment in sporting facilities across the State,’ said Minister Ross.

‘Before the establishment of the LSSIF, Government funding for large sports projects was decided on an ad-hoc basis. The fund provides a robust and transparent mechanism for the allocation of funding to develop the best high quality sports facilities across all regions.’