Community Sport Facilities Fund (CSFF)

1. Monday 28 September 2026 (open) Registration opens On the new SPRAOI portal. Clubs that were on OSCAR were migrated, so check your details.
2. Week of 12 October 2026 2026 guide due on gov.ie The figures here already come from it. We work from a pre-publication copy.
3. Monday 19 October 2026 Applications open The window to get the project in.
4. Friday 26 February 2027 Applications close Nothing lands after this.

in plain words

The Community Sport Facilities Fund is the successor to the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme, and it is the biggest single source of capital money an Irish club will ever go near. It pays for the physical stuff: pitches and drainage, LED floodlights, all-weather surfaces, dressing rooms and clubhouses, walking tracks, ball walls, stands, gym and playing equipment. The 2026 round has three categories: local grants up to €250,000 at 95 per cent of cost, regional grants from €250,000 to €550,000 at 70 per cent, and a new top tier to €750,000 that only councils and governing bodies can apply for.

It does not pay for running costs, insurance, professional fees, car parks, playgrounds, bars or kitchens, land, or work you have already started. Two of those are new this round and they bite. Design, legal and consultancy fees were eligible in 2023 and are not now, so the engineer is paid out of the club's own money. And anything the SEAI would fund, solar panels, heating controls, renewables, is excluded, though LED floodlighting stays in. If the digger is on site before formal approval, the application is invalid, not just reduced.

It is open to not-for-profit sports clubs with open membership, community groups, councils, governing bodies, and schools applying jointly with a club. Membership and entrance fees must each be under €1,500. One application per club, joint applications included. You do not need to be a big club, and the scoring prefers clubs that have not had significant money in the last ten years.

The paperwork has moved. Proof of title is not needed until formal approval, and proof of own funding at application has been dropped altogether. The lease minimum is ten years, down from fifteen, and a club with a shorter or unregistered lease can still get a reduced grant. What has not moved: every element still needs a quotation or estimate at application, three comparable quotes come at formal approval, and nothing is spent before the Department says so in writing.

the money

Local grants

Up to €250,000 at 95 per cent. Capital, equipment, or both. Not open to governing bodies

Equipment

Up to €70,000, on its own or inside a local project. Maintenance equipment such as a mower capped at €40,000 in any five years. No title needed for equipment only

Regional Tier 1

More than €250,000, up to €550,000, at 70 per cent. Governing bodies, councils, or two or more clubs sharing a facility. Single clubs only for six-lane tracks, centres of excellence and League of Ireland or new National League facilities

Regional Tier 2, new

More than €550,000, up to €750,000, at 70 per cent, capital only. Councils and governing bodies only, mainly full-size multisport artificial pitches shared by two or more sports

Spectator stands

Fixed or modular, up to €40,000 in total

Defective concrete blocks pilot

Donegal and Mayo clubs, up to €550,000 at 95 per cent, rules due before the end of 2026

From the 2026 Information Guide. The 2023 round's local ceiling was €200,000 and regional €500,000.

The grant is 95 per cent of eligible cost for a local project and 70 per cent for a regional one, so the club finds at least 5 per cent, or 30 per cent for anything regional. A regional application that does not meet the regional criteria may be assessed as local at 95 per cent; a regional award that ends up under €250,000 stays regional at 70 per cent.

Proof of own funding at application has been dropped. The Appendix 2 table says it plainly: "Applicants had to supply documentary proof of own funding capacity at application stage. Requirement has been dropped." Regional applicants must still "demonstrate capacity to provide the remaining 30% balance". The money is still the club's to find; the Department has stopped asking for the bank statement up front.

Professional fees are not funded in 2026: "legal, accountancy, consultancy, design, feasibility studies, and certification" all sit in the not-funded list. Budget them from the club's own money, alongside the 5 per cent, and do not put them in the application. A previous allocation towards the same project is deducted from the amount you apply for, and every funded project must be complete and usable on its own, not a phase waiting on the next round.

tenure and title

Title still sets the ceiling, but it is checked at formal approval now rather than at application, and the bands have changed. Own the ground, or hold a lease registered with Tailte Éireann with ten or more years left: up to €250,000. Hold a lease of ten or more years that is not registered: up to €175,000, with the lease signed by a solicitor and strict conditions. Hold a lease of five to under ten years, registered or not: up to €100,000 per round. Less than five years, or no lease: €70,000 in equipment only, no capital.

The guide is candid about why. Registering a lease needs 21 years to run, so the old 15-year rule shut out clubs that could not get a 21-year lease. Ten years, and a reduced grant on an unregistered lease, is the fix. A registered lease is still "the optimal position", and the Department says so twice.

The catch is in the word conditional. Offers are made on the assumption the club owns the ground or has a registered lease, and "may be reduced or withdrawn when the evidence of title is provided at formal approval stage". So a club that applies for €250,000 on an unregistered lease gets a conditional offer at €250,000 and a formal approval at €175,000. Know your band before you cost the job. Regional grants need ownership or a registered ten-year lease; unregistered leases are not accepted there at all.

A legal charge on the folio is now only required where the depreciated value of CSFF grants exceeds €650,000, up from €400,000, and never where the landlord is the State or a school.

quotes and pricing

At application

A professionally prepared quotation or pre-tender estimate for every element of the project, equipment included, showing the date and the amount. It can be your technical supervisor's estimate (engineer, quantity surveyor or architect), a contractor or supplier quote, or for equipment a catalogue or website extract. The guide's rule is blunt: "Only elements of projects for which quotations have been provided will be considered for funding." No quote, no element.

At formal approval

Three comparable quotations for each element, with evidence of title, the final grant of planning or confirmation none is needed, the sharing agreement if there is one, the grant agreement and declaration, and for any energy element proof that the SEAI will not fund it. The formal approval guidance for 2026 is to be published separately. Until the Department's written approval arrives, no works, no contracts, no orders and no spend; anything earlier is at the club's own risk and may be ruled ineligible.

How many quotes the rules want

Under €5,000

One written quote

€5,000 to €50,000, goods or services

Three written quotes

€50,000 and over, goods or services

Advertise on eTenders

Works under €200,000

At least five written tenders

Works €200,000 and over

Advertise on eTenders

These are the public procurement thresholds in Circular 05/2023. Grant money is public money, so they apply to the club once it is spending it.

the process, start to finish

1. 01

   Register on SPRAOI

   The new portal, replacing OSCAR. Migrated clubs got an email invitation to the primary contact. Check the club name, the contact, the bank details and the tax details. Both clubs in a joint application must be registered.

   Open now
2. 02

   Check the gates

   Open membership. Annual and entrance fees each under €1,500. Not-for-profit. One application. No work started. Nothing the SEAI would fund, and no professional fees in the budget.

   Now
3. 03

   Know your title band

   Owned or registered ten-year lease, €250,000. Unregistered ten-year lease, €175,000. Five to ten years, €100,000. Less, equipment only. Cost the project to the band, not the hope.

   Now
4. 04

   Shape the project into costed elements

   Every element gets a quotation or estimate. The scheme funds elements, so an element without a quote is not considered, and a previous allocation for the same work comes off the top.

   Now to October
5. 05

   Apply

   Through SPRAOI, by 11:59pm on 26 February 2027. It cannot be amended after submission, and the Department may not answer queries close to the deadline. Keep the reference number.

   19 October to 26 February
6. 06

   Wait for the conditional offer

   The guide says conditional offers come "before end-2027". A conditional offer is not a grant: it assumes ownership or a registered lease and can be reduced or withdrawn when the title evidence arrives.

   During 2027
7. 07

   Formal approval

   Three comparable quotes per element, title, planning, sharing agreement, grant agreement, SEAI proof where relevant. Only after the Department's written approval does anyone sign with a contractor.

   After the offer
8. 08

   Build and draw down

   Pay by bank transfer and keep every VAT invoice. On capital grants over €50,000 the last 10 per cent is held until a completion certificate, proof of the Department's sign, and a letter from the Local Sports Partnership confirming the club's Sport For All and inclusion compliance.

   After formal approval

where clubs go wrong

• Putting the engineer's fees in the application. Professional fees of every kind are in the not-funded list for 2026. They were eligible in 2023; they are not now.
• Costing to €250,000 on an unregistered lease. The conditional offer will say €250,000 and the formal approval will say €175,000. The band is set by the title you can prove.
• Starting the work before formal approval. The guide says an application where works have commenced is invalid, and spend before written approval is at the club's own risk.
• Asking for solar panels or heating controls. Anything the SEAI Community Grant can fund is excluded, and you will need proof the SEAI would not fund it to get an energy element through formal approval.
• Leaving an element without a quote. "Only elements of projects for which quotations have been provided will be considered for funding."
• Treating the conditional offer as the grant. The guide says it three times: a conditional offer is not guaranteed funding.
• An undrawn grant from before 2023. The scoring may reduce clubs that have not progressed earlier allocations, and a previous allocation for the same project comes off the new amount.
• Forgetting the 10 per cent retention. On capital over €50,000 it is held until completion, the sign, and a Local Sports Partnership letter, so the club carries it to the end.

tips that earn marks

• Pin the facility on the Pobal map before you write a word. The 2026 scoring uses a Pobal radial model that scores the catchment the facility serves, not just its own pin, so a club on the edge of a disadvantaged area is scored on the people it reaches.
• If the club has had little or no CSFF money in ten years, say so. Preference goes to clubs without significant grants in that period, and it is a scoring factor in its own right.
• Put the LED floodlights in. They are the one energy item CSFF still funds, and every other energy measure belongs with the SEAI on a separate application.
• A modular stand is now fundable, up to €40,000. If spectators stand in the rain, this is the round to fix it.
• Disability access, equipment for people with disabilities, swimming, under-invested sports, and equipment for men's and women's sheds or homeless services are all named priorities. If the project genuinely serves one, lead with it.
• Register the lease if you can. Ten years registered is €250,000; ten years unregistered is €175,000. The difference is a solicitor's afternoon and a Tailte Éireann fee.
• Get the Local Sports Partnership on side early. Their letter now releases the last 10 per cent of any capital grant over €50,000.

official links and forms

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