The Irish government has allocated almost €26M ($33.7M) of new funding for sports projects, according to the IRISH TIMES. It is the first round of money in four years and will allow clubs to build facilities or buy equipment, "with a particular emphasis on clubs in disadvantaged areas." Further allocations of €4M ($5.2M) will be made to national and regional projects "in the coming weeks." Between '98-10, €140 per person was provided in sports capital funding across the country. However, "the allocations to individual counties varied significantly." While the best performing county (Kerry) got €196 of sports funding per person, other counties only received a little more than half of that. Now funding is being allocated on a per-capita basis to each county "with a weighting for past performance." Around "615 projects will benefit" from the change. The allocations include funding for natural grass pitches, tracks and courts (including pitch drainage); floodlighting; artificial sports pitches, tracks, courts and multi-use games areas as well as security fencing and ball stop netting (IRISH TIMES, 12/2).
