Byrne says Government wants to give €3.99m to Finn Harps for stadium but awaits FAI correspondence - video Dailymotion

Byrne says Government wants to give €3.99m to Finn Harps for stadium but awaits FAI correspondence

Transcript

00:00 We have a, in the LSSIF scheme, I don't know how many football clubs applied for that,

00:05 but Finn Harps was granted £3.99 million.

00:08 I want to give that money to Finn Harps, I want that stadium built, but in line with

00:12 standard procedures for grants, we're waiting for correspondence really from the FAI in

00:18 terms of co-funding of that, and we're waiting for some of the documentation.

00:22 There's also an LSSIF top-up process in place, and I certainly want Finn Harps to succeed

00:28 in that, and it's a matter for the officials who are assessing that at the moment, but

00:31 I understand they have an application in.

00:33 We want to put that grant out, we want to see that built, but we've awarded that grant.

00:38 I know Bohemian's got funding as well for the design of their stadium, and I hope there'll

00:42 be another round soon for Daly Men Park, that Daly Men Park will be able to apply, and a

00:47 number of other, Deputy O'Murroch, you mentioned the DOCFC applied to the Sports Capital Programme.

00:52 I don't know who has applied for Sports Capital, but it'll be published on the website very

00:55 soon, but I wonder how many League of Ireland clubs have applied.

00:58 I hope some of them have applied for Sports Capital funding, because it's there and has

01:03 been available to them.

01:04 But over the last number of years, the memorandum of understanding with the FAI, there's been

01:09 a total of 62 million euro provided to the FAI by Sport Ireland through the government

01:13 from 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

01:16 A huge amount of funding.

01:19 And part of that funding is stadium funding.

01:22 Part of that is about two and a half million every year goes into the Aviva from the government

01:27 to the FAI.

01:28 It's a recoupable amount of money that's to be paid back in due course.

01:33 But that's to pay for the Aviva Stadium, and in terms of that deal that was done a long,

01:37 long time ago.

01:38 So there's huge support being given to football, and as somebody, and like a number of deputies

01:44 here, I regularly go to see Drogheda United.

01:48 I know the facilities are basically the same as they were when I was a child.

01:54 However, again, it's a matter for them, they're talking about the private investment that

01:57 they've been seeking, it's a matter for the members that are going through that.

02:00 But there is private investment, as Deputy Farrell said, in the League of Ireland.

02:03 And again, the story is not just about the government, it's also about the opportunities

02:07 that are there for private investment.