The Department of Sport forced the last-minute cancellation of the launch of a club’s €380,000 pitch revamp because its senior minister could not attend the ‘photo op’, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned.

The revelation comes as Sports Minister Patrick O’Donovan was this weekend accused of politicising the awarding of State sports capital funding grants.

In a letter which was sent to sports clubs across the country last October, the senior civil servant in charge of the Sports Capital Programmes said that Mr O’Donovan and his junior Charlie McConalogue asked that all recipients of sports grants over €100,000 give advance notice and send invitations to the Department for any sod-turning or official opening ceremonies.

Opposition critics last night said the letter has created ‘a chill effect’ and gives the impression clubs may not be considered for future funding if they fail to comply with the minister’s request.

And this nervousness was evident when Kerry FC was forced to cancel the club’s planned launch of its new Astroturf pitch last weekend at the eleventh hour.

The Tralee–based club was scheduled to hold the launch ahead of its senior team’s match against Finn Harps on Friday, March 20.

Kerry FC supporters now say they are now planning to protest when Mr O’Donovan attends the rescheduled launch of the club’s new astroturf. 

Sources yesterday confirmed Mr O’Donovan – whose Department of Culture, Communications and Sport oversees all sports capital funding – only received the invite 10 days earlier and was unable to attend the event.

But despite the fact that his Cabinet colleague, Children’s Minister and local Fianna Fáil TD Norma Foley, had been pencilled in to represent the Government at the event, Fine Gael deputy O’Donovan’s officials contacted the club demanding its postponement.

Local sources said Department officials contacted the club the Monday before the scheduled launch, and again the following day, St Patrick’s Day, requesting the cancellation of the event.

At the time, Mr O’Donovan was representing Ireland in Savannah and Atlanta in Georgia as part of the Government’s St Patrick’s week diplomatic mission to the US.

Members of the club and locals said they were ‘shocked’ as they assumed – given another senior minister (Ms Foley) was due to attend – they had compiled with the Department’s request.

But a local source said: ‘We were to host the wrong Cabinet minister, obviously, and she would have been getting all the political kudos.’

Eventually, Kerry FC felt it had to option but to accede to the Department’s request.

On Wednesday, March 18, the club sent out an email to guests cancelling the launch.

These included Ms Foley, as well as cross–party local TDs, senators and councillors and an overseas sponsor.

The letter – seen by the MoS – said: ‘Following a request from the Minister for Sport Mr Patrick O’Donovan, we have agreed to postpone our planned official opening of the new pitch and lights by Kerry Football Club until another date, as he is unable to attend this Friday night.’

It added: ‘We will be in touch shortly with the new date for the function and the arrangements. Our apologies for any inconvenience and we look forward to seeing you hopefully on the new date.’

Local Sinn Féin TD Pa Daly told the MoS: ‘I was one of those people who was invited. I was surprised then to learn that it had been called off at short notice.

‘Of course, when a club gets a grant of up to €200,000, usually it’s the people in the department that do all the work and all the to–ing and fro–ing and requests for further information with the clubs.

‘The money that the club receives is really determined by whether they have done enough work to deserve the grant.

Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O’Donovan pictured with Adrian Corcoran of Dundalk FC at during their derby against Drogheda United last month

Charlie McConalogue (seen above holding a rugby ball at the Laya Arena ‘topping out’ ceremoney at the RDS this week) was unable to attend the event but instead asked party colleague Norma Foley to lead the launch

Asked about the views of Pa Daly, above, that the initial letter laying out the parameters for invites was chilling, they replied: ‘We view that accusation of it being chilling, from Sinn Féin, as somewhat petty’

‘The minister really has nothing to do with the Government grants, the specific funding that goes into the pot.’

The last–minute cancellation of the launch sparked an angry local response.

Sources said that when Kerry FC decided to hold the ceremony on March 20, before their match against Donegal side Finn Harps, they invited the Minister of State at the Department of Sport, Charlie McConalogue, who is also a Fianna Fáil TD for Donegal.

They also notified the Department and sent invites to local politicians and many others connected to the club.

Mr McConalogue was unable to attend the event but he instead asked his party colleague Ms Foley to lead the launch.

Kerry FC has a small clubhouse, so it was planned to host the event at an adjacent hall, with catering, drinks and PA facilities arranged at a financial cost to the club.

Aside from local politicians, a large number of guests were invited, including Football Association of Ireland (FAI) figures from Dublin, and a club sponsor from the US.

The cancellation of the high–profile event follows a letter sent by Mr O’Donovan’s department last October to sports clubs telling them he must be invited to any events announcing more than €100,000 in state funding.

The letter, signed off by Bernard O’Shea, Principal Officer of Sports Capital Programmes, states: ‘As part of the ongoing administration of the Community Sports Facilities Fund (CSFF), Mrs O’Donovan and McConalogue have asked that all recipients of CSFF grants of €100,000 or more provide advance notice and invitation to the Department for any planned sod–turning or official opening ceremonies for such CSFF–funded projects.’

The communication continued: ‘Sufficient notice (at least one month) should be given to the Department to allow ministers to consider the invitation and to facilitate ministerial attendance, where possible.

‘Please use the following email address in this regard – and refer to “CSFF Opening / Sod Turning invitation” in the email subject line.

Sinn Féin frontbencher Pa Daly criticised the letter, saying it creates ‘a chill effect’ and gives the impression the grants were awarded because of ‘the minister’s largesse’.

He told the MoS: ‘First of all, an impression being created that the application for grant funding has nothing to do with all of the hard work that is done by volunteers in clubs completing forms, obtaining quotes and doing all the hard work, as well as the additional fundraising, which will usually form the majority of the funding, for example, for facilities in the sports capital grants.

‘A deliberate impression is given that this is down to the minister’s largesse.’

He added: ‘There is a chill factor there, that clubs are being put under pressure to give this invite. 

‘They feel – rightly or wrongly – that if they don’t invite the minister to this and give them all this notice in advance that it might go against them in a subsequent application for funding.’

A Department source last night pointed out that Mr O’Donovan and Mr McConalogue were out of the country on long–haul St Patrick’s Day trips at the time of the launch.

 While Mr O’Donovan was in the US, his junior minster was in Thailand and Vietnam.

Ms Foley was in Italy for St Patrick’s Day and was back in Kerry in time for the scheduled launch.

The source told the MoS: ‘The Department didn’t get notification of the event until March 10. We let the club know that this date wouldn’t suit and asked them to reschedule. 

‘Both Patrick and Charlie were away on their Paddy’s Day trips. Officials told them that ample notice was required, that you know the rules as set down in the circular.’

They claimed Mr O’Donovan ‘wasn’t aware of any of this confusion until your newspaper put in the queries’.

The source said they did not believe it was unreasonable for the minister to expect to be at the launch, considering the substantial investment of €387,953 for the new facilities.

‘It is a political opportunity to be on site to say we’re investing this money.

‘But it is also an opportunity for the clubs to meet the politicians who will be central to future funding, and that might help them,’ they added.

Asked about Mr Daly’s view that the initial letter laying out the parameters for invites was chilling, they replied: ‘We view that accusation of it being chilling, from Sinn Féin, as somewhat petty.’

In response to queries, the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport said: ‘The attendance of ministers at key lifecycle events (such as opening, topping–out, and sod–turning ceremonies) for Department–funded sport facilities is quite common.

‘In this context, the Department has advised all recipients of CSFF grants of €100,000 or more to provide sufficient advance notice and invitation to the Department for such key infrastructure lifecycle events. 

‘Grantees have been asked to provide sufficient notice of at least one month to allow ministers to consider the invitation and to facilitate ministerial attendance, if possible.

‘Attendance by the Department’s ministers at such events allows them to see at first hand the benefits of investment from the Department’s programmes and to engage with the sports organisations at a grassroots level. 

‘Both ministers regularly attend such events and will continue to do so as schedules allow.’

In relation to the cancelled Kerry FC event, a Department spokesman said: ‘In this particular instance, the Department became aware on March 10 that Kerry FC was planning on holding the official opening of its CSFF–funded new pitch and lighting system on Friday March 20.

The Department contacted Kerry FC on that date to remind the club of the request for adequate advance notice of such invitations.

‘On March 16, the Department became aware that the official opening remained scheduled for March 20, notwithstanding earlier communications and asked Kerry FC on that date, and again on March 17, to defer the official opening until such time as Mr O’Donovan would be available to attend.

‘The minister looks forward to attending at Mounthawk Park soon for the official opening at a date to be agreed with Kerry FC.’

However, the minister is unlikely to get the reception he hopes for at Mounthawk, with one fan telling the MoS: ‘The official launch will be scheduled for a match, like the one that was supposed to go ahead, and I can guarantee you that the supporters are planning a protest. 

‘We are already sketching out the banners for O’Donovan.’