Earlier this month, Ministers Catherine Martin and Thomas Byrne published a review of the 2019 LSSIF Fund, including recommendations for the upcoming LSSIF programme.
Patricia Keenan of our Sport for Business members 2Into3 has been poring over the details in the review and has penned this for us.
As the 2019 round was the first for this new fund, it is worth reflecting on some of the data and observations shared.
€172m was sought back in 2019 from a fund of €100m. €86m was allocated at the time and an additional €37m allocated in 2023 to address cost inflation, for a total of €124m.
Five years later, only €5.4 million (4%) has been drawn down, with completion achieved for only two out of 33 projects.
Clearly, the LSSIF Fund has had a difficult start, and the review sets out a range of reasons for this, including: Covid19, Construction Inflation, Planning issues and percentage allocated compared to level of funding sought. There is no doubt that these will be factored into the new round.
The review notes that the Immigrant Investment Programme (IIP) has been a significant factor in helping to fund many of the 2019 projects and that its closure could have an impact of demand in the next round.
This, along with the 5-year gap between rounds, demographic growth, continued cost inflation, sports infrastructure deficits and similar access requirements will, in our view, lead to demand at a multiple of 2019’s €172m.
This would be mitigated if there was a real commitment to LSSIF rounds becoming an annual (rather than an irregular) option for capital development funding for Sport.
Key Recommendations
There were 5 key recommendations going forward, none of which were surprising and should enrich the proposed investments in sports and ultimately the communities they serve. However, some of the recommendations caught our attention as they reflected the changes in what is happening with sporting developments across the country at the grass roots level.
Firstly, the equality of access for males and females is a pre-requisite to funding, similar to the requirement which was included in the SCEP funds. This financially supports the ‘Women In Sport’ strategic objective which has been adopted by all sports. However, this funding incentive will hasten the development of the required facilities at all levels of sport across the country. Many women’s teams still struggle to gain access to facilities, but this will ensure that their needs and demands are centre stage.
Secondly, sports facilities are multi usage as well as multi-sport in many cases and they are a part of the wider infrastructure of community facilities. The NGBs provide a focal point for their sport at all levels and share facilities as needed. This is not only for sporting reasons, but also ensures the economic viability of a large facility and brings in additional income streams to the NGB. The need to show access for multi-sport users will encourage and support greater integration, which is economically advantageous for all involved.
Economic viability of a facility is demonstrated by access to other users such as conferencing, social meetings and corporate events. For example, the redevelopment of the Basketball Ireland arena in Tallaght currently facilitates Irish dancing championships, as well as LEGO exhibitions. There are endless possibilities for their state of art facility which will be able to host not only Basketball, but Badminton and Paralympics, as well corporate exhibitions.
Sport for Business Perspective:
The slow start to what is a crucial element of long-term Government funding is worrying but is explained in the set of circumstances that have been thrust upon us since Minister Shane Ross unveiled it way back in 2019.
The demand for large-scale facilities is even greater now with an increased population.
There has to be some concern however that the Government may wish to clear the projects already approved before taking on new ones.
Some including the development of the RDS, the National Water Sports Campus and the Dalymount Park community stadium are very visible and may need significant advancement before any meaningful new projects are given the green light and the funding
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