Council appeal sports centre funding decision appealed

A meeting of the county council finance committee last week heard that the council were turned down for funding under the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) for a mooted €16m Mullingar regional sports centre and are still awaiting the outcome of their appeal of that decision.

County councillors have allocated €390,000 a year to the project in their budget and a total of €2.25m has been set aside.

The council are reviewing the original brief for the project, given the passage of time since the original project brief was developed. They want to ensure they are ready when funding is available.

Cllr Hazel Smyth asked that the regional sports centre be prioritised as it is "badly needed". Cllr Andrew Duncan also supported the call for a move on the sports centre, saying that it had dragged on for four or five years. Cllr Ken Glynn said it was frustrating that for years, the councillors have been "correlating funds for the regional sports centre" and they want to see it moved forward. "We put our money where our mouth is and we’re still waiting." He was assured that the council is on to the department in this regard.