With the growing population explosion that continues in the county and lack of services trying to keep pace, Cllr Joe Bonner, has called for government funding to address the imbalance in Meath. Presently, we have public pools Navan, Kells and Trim. In the south of the county none. While there has been plenty of public clamor with the success of the Irish Olympic team in Paris, the need to action is now. Funding was announced yesterday for a funding of €500,000 to develop a Swimming Strategy for the future. In reality, Meath has seen its population grow, and as far back as 2008 funding was supposed to be planned for Ratoath or Dunshaughlin. In a consultants report, at the time, the favoured location was Ratoath much to the displeasure of councillors of that era. It was debated that funding would be made available with over €1.1 million in the capital budgets. To date nothing is proposed, planned or happening in south Meath.
Cllr Bonner calling for action.
Independent Councillor Joe Bonner recently met with the Minister Thomas Byrne in the Dáil, to discuss lack of community facilities in Meath East.
He outlined the 13.2% increase in population in Meath since the last census. The provision of community facilities has not kept pace with this population increase.
For example in Ashbourne he pointed out the following issues that is holding back the much needed services to provide a proper community services. There include;
• The community centre is at full capacity with over 30 groups unable to avail of the facilities.
• The GAA club is also at capacity.
• Killegland FC soccer club are renting facilities in County Dublin.
• Ashbourne United FC also have difficulty meeting the challenges in providing for an ever-expanding club.
• New schools in the area have little or no greenspace or sports facilities provided.
• There is an obvious under provision of parks and playgrounds in Meath East and while we welcome the recent additions of the playgrounds at Stamullen, Clonee, Dunboyne and Dunshaughlin there is a lot to be done in this area. This is the situation facing many of the clubs in Ashbourne and East Meath and needs urgent attention.
The Minister responded saying that that as a TD for the area he was well aware of the problems and shared his concerns.
He drew our attention to funding becoming available in the upcoming Sports Capital Programme and Sports Equipment scheme which will be launched in the coming weeks.
The Minister advised that that the application form would be similar to previous years with the inclusion of some new features;
• The most notably is the requirement that any facility seeking grant approval must be equally available to man and women – and applicants will need to show their access policy.
• A new category for facilities of a municipal nature – they will be able to apply for regional grants where it is genuinely a community facility with a number of sports located on it. This is aimed at facilities that are genuinely multi-sport and not run by one sporting body which allows others to hire the premises.
Councillor Bonner is encouraging clubs and organizations to apply for these grants – ensuring that their applications are in on time and presented in the correct format.
Ideally projects should be “Shovel Ready” and plans in place for the delivery of the project. Last year a large number of applications were deemed invalid as they were incorrectly presented.
Current Position
Sports Capital & Equipment Programme 2023 announced with increased thresholds for local and regional projects. The system will be open for applications from 17 July to 8th September.
* Local project maximum grant increased from €150,000 to €200,000
* Regional project maximum grant increased from €300,000 to €500,000
* Specific focus on climate action, sustainability and gender equality
The first step in obtaining a grant is to register on the Department’s online system and the Ministers encouraged any clubs that are not already registered to do so now. Clubs can register at www.sportscapitalprogramme.ie . Once registered, all applications must be made on the same website. The system will be open for applications from 17 July to 8th September.
The “Guide to Making an Application” was also published on the Department’s website today and can be found here: gov.ie/sportscapital The Guide essentially sets out the terms and conditions of the Programme. A review of the 2020 round of the Programme was published in May and all of the main recommendations have been included in the Guide.
As we move into September in the coming weeks and time moves on, it will be up to the councillors to fight for their local constituents and deliver on the needs of the community. The electoral areas of Meath continue to have a complete imbalance of swimming pools, with the traditional market towns of Navan, Kells and Trim are the envy of Ashbourne, Ratoath electoral areas , At least Laytown/Bettystown have the beach. Hopefully, there will be strokes in the right direction.
