City councillor Declan McDonnell has called for a change in the process of funding sports clubs’ grounds developments in Galway, in order to speed up their delivery.
He has suggested that Galway City Council should offer clubs at minimum, 15-year leases on grounds owned by the local authority — which would clear the way for the clubs to apply for Government grants directly, thus reducing the workload of the understaffed council and speeding up the process. This is particularly for those clubs who are in a position to meet the criteria to progress the development works.
Councillor McDonnell said that, following a change in rules in 2017, only sports clubs which own their own lands or have a lease of at least 15 years can apply for their own funding under the Government’s Sports Capital Programme.
“Most sports clubs that use Council-owned lands are operating on a one-year rolling lease basis, which means that if they want to improve their facilities the Council has to apply on their behalf for these grants.
“The problem with that is that the City Council does not have enough staff to progress these projects as fast as we all would like. As a result clubs are being forced to endure long waits.
“St James’s GAA Club, for instance, have been trying for years to get a major upgrade of their facilities, including an all-weather pitch, off the ground — they are crying out for these facilities.
“They were allocated grants under the Sports Capital Programme in 2018 and 2020, a total of €148,000, but it’s only this year, six years after the funding was allocated that the project is finally going to tender, which Council officials tell us will happen in the first quarter. Why should there be such a delay — it has taken far too long to get it to this stage.”
The Independent councillor said that one obvious solution would be for the City Council to give a minimum 15-year leases to clubs.
“That would mean that these clubs could then apply directly for the Sports Capital Grants, taking a huge workload away from the City Council and ultimately speeding up the delivery of these important projects for Galway.
“In 2023 Galway City Council applied for grants for another 15 projects throughout the city, which are badly needed, but when are these going to come to fruition if we don’t change the approach and allow clubs to apply directly for themselves?”
On a separate issue, Cllr McDonnell said that several sports organisations were concerned that the City Council might be about to restrict advertising signage around pitches it has leased out to clubs.
“The Council had people going around some weeks back taking photos of this signage at a number of venues and clubs are really worried that this vital source of revenue for them might be taken away.
“This is something that I would be totally opposed to — this revenue can make all the difference to clubs that are struggling to keep going in the face of rising costs,” added Councillor McDonnell.
