To ask the Minister for Communities what financial support his Department can provide to establish multi-use games areas in the north coast area, including, Castlerock, Portrush, Limavady and Dungiven.

My Department has previously provided approximately £144,000 part-funding to Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council as part of the COVID Recovery Small Settlement Scheme. This funding was used to establish a number of multi-use games areas in the North Coast villages of Dernaflaw, Dervock and Magilligan and are expected to be completed within the coming months.

This initiative was developed in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and the Department for Infrastructure, along with local councils including Causeway Coast and Glens, to provide a Recovery Plan designed to support smaller settlement, with populations under 5000 to recover from the impact of the pandemic and address regeneration needs.

At this time there no current programmes within my Department to provide support to establish further multi-use games areas in the north coast area.

Any support which may be available from Sport NI, my Department’s arm’s length body which provides support for the sports sector, would be an operational matter. As such, I would advise that you should seek this information directly from Sport NI and direct your question to Richard Archibald, Interim Chief Executive Officer at assemblybusiness@sport.net.