The new facilities at Letterkenny Tennis Club were launched yesterday afternoon by Donegal minister, Charlie McConalogue.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine said the facilities were put in place through the €165,000 in sports capital funding allocated in 2022.
“These fantastic facilities are a testament to the hardworking committee and head coach, Gerry Clarke, who continues to drive things on,” Minister McConalogue commented.
The works included the replacement of floodlights, new surfaces on four tennis courts and on three children’s mini courts, the completion of a clay court and the completion of fencing around the perimeter of the grounds.
“The developments at Letterkenny Tennis Club are emblematic of what happens when sports clubs and community organisations get grant awards through sports capital. The grants are spent so well, make a massive impact in local communities, and are leveraged in a way that have a real impact on people’s lives in a very significant way.
“Letterkenny Tennis Club has evolved and developed with the times since relocating to its current home in 1996 and it’s great to see how, as a club, it has put out its linkages to embrace the community and welcome people in,” he added.
“The club has linked up with St Eunan’s College, Loreto Secondary School and Coláiste Ailigh with students from the three schools working closely with students from St Bernadette’s Special School in Letterkenny through Donegal Sports Partnership, and that is really important work on behalf of the club.
“I wish Letterkenny Tennis Club well for the future and look forward to supporting them along with Cllr Ciaran Brogan and our public representatives in any way we can. We had a really good result in the county this week with the announcement that 89 clubs were allocated €12.27 million under the Community Sports Facilities Fund – this was the fourth highest allocation in the country after Dublin, Cork and Galway,” Minister McConalogue said.
“That’s a reflection of how seriously we take sport here in the county and how strong our sporting sector is. We worked extremely hard to ensure there was a strong allocation coming to Donegal so that we can actually see more projects like the one at Letterkenny Tennis Club being delivered.
“It’s making an impact on young people and on those right across the ages, while also enhancing people’s lives. There’s great voluntary work going on at the club at committee level and through training young people in as well,” the Donegal minister added.