SDLP Foyle MLA Ma\rk H Durkan
Mr Durkan said that many struggling sports clubs will find it difficult to reconcile the large awards made to some organisations, compared with the support they have received.
Said the Foyle MLA: “There appears to be obvious disparities in how this money was allocated, with some organisations getting huge sums of money, others a pitiful amount and many being deemed ineligible for any support.
“The fact that Royal County Down Golf Club received more than £1.5m in funding from this fund, more than 35% of the funding golf clubs across the North received has certainly raised more than a few questions.
“This huge financial award stands in sharp contrast to funds provided to other sports, such as boxing who received just over £60k for clubs across Northern Ireland.
“Some local sports clubs had been pushed from pillar to post by the Departments of Finance and Economy for months and when the Sports Sustainability Fund opened, they felt relieved they would eventually get some support.
“Yet local clubs have fallen through the net while large organisations received six figures.
“Minister Hargey needs to immediately explain her role in administration of this scheme and if she queried any of the apparent disparities, before she signed off on the millions of pounds of public money.
“Minister Hargey must also publish the criteria that was used to decide how much each organisation received.
“It is difficult to reconcile that the some of the biggest beneficiaries would be at risk of imminent closure, as the scheme criteria seems to suggest.
“I have submitted questions to this effect to the Minister and will be raising tomorrow at Communities Committee.”
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