UK Sports Minister Tours NI Facilities

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has welcomed UK Sports Minister Stephanie Peacock MP to Northern Ireland for her first official visit.

Accompanied by NIO Minister Fleur Anderson, the Ministers toured sports facilities in Belfast and the Mid and East Antrim area, meeting recipients of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Grassroots Facilities Investment Fund.

Minister Lyons expressed his enthusiasm for the visit: "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 £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 £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' itinerary included a visit to Newforge Community Development Trust, a multi-sports facility in Belfast funded through the Peace IV Programme, the Department for Communities, Sport NI, and the Department of Rural and Community Development (Ireland). This facility, home to the Northern Ireland Women's football team and the Ulster Rugby Academy, is considered a model for modern, multi-purpose venues.

They also met with club officials at Carrick Rangers FC to discuss the club's future plans and inspected the new synthetic pitch funded by DCMS.

Additionally, they visited Wellington Recreation FC in Larne, where DCMS funding has facilitated the installation of a new artificial grass pitch, floodlights, fencing, gates, and improved accessibility at their Brookvale Park ground.