4. Mr T Buchanan asked the Minister for Communities to outline when The Northern Ireland Football Fund (TNIFF) will be open for applications from interested groups. (AQO 769/22-27)

13. Lord Elliott asked the Minister for Communities for an update on the business case for The Northern Ireland Football Fund. (AQO 778/22-27)

Mr Speaker, I believe that question 4 has been linked to question 13.

Yes.

Thank you. The Northern Ireland Football Fund will provide investment for football at all levels. It is a key priority for me. I am committed to moving forward as quickly as possible, and my officials are continuing to push forward at pace. I want to roll out the funding as quickly as possible. However, it is important that funding be disbursed in a fair and transparent manner. I expect that the first projects to be taken forward under the fund will be identified by the end of this financial year.

Thank you, Minister. I also thank the Minister for his visit to west Tyrone in July. He saw at first hand the tremendous work being done with children and young people by the football clubs there. Will the Minister ensure that grassroots football remains a commitment for The Northern Ireland Football Fund?

Yes. It is critical that we invest in grassroots infrastructure in Northern Ireland. Of course, there is huge need at performance level, but grassroots football cannot be forgotten. I appreciate and thank the Member for his invite to west Tyrone. I saw there the important role that those clubs, like so many other clubs that I have visited right across Northern Ireland, play in the local community and how they help more people to get more active more often, which is a key priority for my Department. I assure the Member that I will do everything that I can to make sure that we get that funding out to the clubs that need it.

I thank the Minister for his answer. I declare an interest as the chair of a Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) football club. I welcome the Minister's progressing of The Northern Ireland Football Fund. A business case fund, which seemed to form an element of The Northern Ireland Football Fund, was launched by his Department last October. Will the Minister provide an update on that? Have any clubs progressed through that process yet?

The Member will be aware of the first 10 clubs that were able to benefit from the business case funding. I recently announced a further three clubs that will have the ability to get the funding that they need. I hope to be in a position to continue further down the list and allow clubs that need the funds that I will make available to progress works to apply for the programme.

On the grassroots element of the football fund, I met groups over the summer that are willing the fund to open soon. Will the Minister provide a timeline for when we can expect the grassroots element of the fund to open, given that he said that he hopes that letters of offer will go out for the 2025 financial year?

The performance clubs will be first, not overall but in the performance element of it. I hope that we will be able to initiate those conversations in December, with the application period opening in January. I hope very early in the new financial year to allow grassroots clubs to apply.

What steps will the Minister take to ensure that funding is equitably distributed among communities and football groups across Northern Ireland?

When I announced The Northern Ireland Football Fund, I set out some of the criteria that clubs will be expected to adhere to. There certainly will be fair and equitable treatment, and, importantly, the process will be transparent.