Roche Welcomes 'Bumper' Lottery Allocation To Wicklow Embracing Many Sporting Facilities

The allocations announced by Minister McDaid are as follows; -

Bray Urban District Council £300,000 Annacurra G.A.A. Club £23,000 Bray Bowling Club £ 4,000 Arklow U.D.C. £75,000 Valleymount GAA Club £150,000 Greystones Rugby Club £50,000 St. Anthony's Kilcoole United £50,000 Kilmacanogue GAA Club £70,000 Dunlavin GAA Club £100,00 Arklow Boxing Club £30,000 Coolkenno Community Pitch Development £25,000 Arklow United Football Club £12,000 Wicklow Rovers AFC £18,000

Grant Total: 13 £ 907,000

Deputy Roche said, following the release of the allocations "Having been directly involved in some difficult negotiations with the

Deputy Roche

Department of Tourism Sport & Recreation and with the Minister on behalf of a number of the successful applications I am very pleased indeed at the record level funding allocated in this round. I am particularly pleased with the £300,000 allocation to the Bray UDC project for the Peoples' Park.

These are not the 'last word' on lottery allocations for Wicklow and in particular north Wicklow for this year. I have already been in contact with the promoters of a number of major projects that have already been submitted and with the Department in support of funding for the projects in question. From my discussions I expect that there will some further significant announcements later in the year.

As in previous years I am disturbed at the relatively low level of applications from County Wicklow. In all only 30 projects were submitted from the County. Four of these were effectively beyond the scope of the scheme because of their scale. At least two of the four will be considered under different allocation arrangements because of their scale and content.

There is likely to be a further round of Sports Capital lottery allocations later this year. At this stage I would strongly urge clubs and organisations to put their plans in hand and to start putting together the supporting documentation and other arrangements for lodging a bid for assistance in the next round. The secret to a successful application for funding from the Lottery Sports Capital Grant Scheme is good advance planning and a comprehensive application"- Deputy Roche said.