Ministers visit sports grounds in Belfast, Carrick and Larne
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Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has hosted the UK Sports Minister Stephanie Peacock MP during her first visit to Northern Ireland.
Joined by NIO Minister Fleur Anderson, the Ministers visited sports facilities in Belfast and the Mid and East Antrim area to meet some of the recipients of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Grassroots Facilities Investment Fund.
Minister Lyons welcomed the visit, saying:
"This is a good opportunity to showcase a range of sporting facilities, including those which have received investment through the DCMS Grassroots Investment Fund. I recently opened the Northern Ireland Football Fund for applications from performance clubs and can see that the demand for investment far outweighs the Pound 36.2million my Department has allocated. It is a similar situation for grassroots venues, used to train and support thousands of young people every week, but in dire need of modernisation.
"My vision is to upgrade football grounds at every level across Northern Ireland, as well as supporting the creation of a National Football Centre for our elite teams. The recent DCMS announcement of Pound 3million for grassroots sports facilities in Northern Ireland is welcome and will go some way towards raising the standard of these grounds. I look forward to continued collaboration with DCMS to ensure that, through ongoing investment, our sports grounds can be developed to offer accessible, high-quality facilities which are welcoming to all and inspiring for generations of players."
The Ministers visited Newforge Community Development Trust, a multi-sports facility in Belfast funded through Peace IV Programme, Department for Communities, Sport NI and the Department of Rural and Community Development (Ireland). This facility is home to the Northern Ireland Women's football team and the Ulster Rugby Academy and has set the standard for a modern, all-purpose venue.
The Ministers also met club officials at Carrick Rangers FC to hear about the club's plans for the future as well as viewing the new synthetic pitch funded by DCMS after visiting the home of Wellington Recreation FC in Larne. Wellington Recreation FC received DCMS funding to install a new artificial grass pitch, floodlights, fencing, gates and to improve accessibility at their ground at Brookvale Park.
