HC Deb 15 September 2003 vol 410 cc570-3W
Mr. Gregory Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much public funding was allocated to(a) soccer, (b) Gaelic games, (c) rugby and (d) cricket in Northern Ireland in the last five years. [115700]

Angela Smith

The Sports Council for Northern Ireland (SCNI) is responsible for the development of Sport in NI including the distribution of public funding to individual sports.

The following tables provides information from each source of funding distributed by SCNI for the five year period 1998–2003 for the four sports of soccer, Gaelic games, rugby and cricket.

Lottery funding
£
1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 Total
Soccer 677,073 816,616 942,492 642,710 609,131 3,688,022
Gaelic games 2,703,811 1,303,185 1,694,182 1,025,420 689,962 7,416,560
Rugby 155,526 100,784 312,053 144,000 76,860 789,223
Cricket 215,298 212,837 282,500 57,202 16,000 783,837
Total 3,751,708 2,433,422 3,231,227 1,869,332 1,391,953 12,677,642

Safe Sports Grounds

The money provided by the Safe Sports Ground Programme was made available from financial year 2000–01 for the three sports of soccer, Gaelic games and

£
1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 Total
Soccer 1,206,809 784,003 415,188 2,406,000
Gaelic games 622,085 350,833 507,082 1,480,000
Rugby 136,843 140,612 68,536 345,991
Total 1,965,737 1,275,448 990,806 4,231,991

Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP)

The following table shows the total allocation from EU Structural Funds from 1998 to date across various departments, for the four sports. DFP has worked

£
1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003 to date Total
Soccer 6,325 17,984 159,500 110,800 194,609
Gaelic games 304,005 10,000 1,000 315,005
Rugby 6,500 6,500
Cricket 25,250 25,250
Total 310,330 59,734 1,000 159,500 10,800 541,364
1This figure of £10,800 reflects the award allocated by DFP for soccer from 2003 to date, this award was made under the Measure 3.2 of the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DA RD)

The following table details DARD's funding for the four sports for five-year period 1998–2003. In addition to the figures provided in the table, DARD has allocated

£
1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 Total
Soccer 1,270 2,835 4,105
Gaelic games 145 8,557 1,885 111,118 21,605
Rugby 1606 21,760 11,878 4,244
Cricket 4,067 4,067
Total 1,876 4,640 12,624 3,763 11,118 34,021
1This expenditure relates to grants payable under the Woodland Grant Scheme, which encourages the creation of new woodland and the sustainable management of existing woodland.
2This amount was allocated to a Gaelic athletic club to help in the promotion of rugby through coaching and exhibition match.

Department of Education
£
1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 Total
Soccer 422.06 857.31 102.00 1,381.37
Gaelic games 300.00 300.00
Total 722.06 857.31 102.00 1,681.37

rugby. The following table shows the funding that was allocated for these sports for the three-year period 1 April 2000–31 March 2003.

under the assumption that public funding encapsulates funding through the public purse, including EU structural funds.

£899 in 1998–99 for sport in general, including soccer and cricket, DARD have been unable to provide a detailed breakdown of this amount in respect of each sport referred to.

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI)

The following table details the grant payments made by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) for each of the four sports for the periods in question.

1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 Total
Soccer 6,750 6,400 7,200 8,800 13,500 42,650
Gaelic gamesߞ ߞ ߞ 500 500
Rugby 680 600 1,280
Cricket 1,500 2,000 3,500
Total 7,430 8,500 7,200 11,300 13,500 47,930

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