Sport Northern Ireland will invest £17.5m of National Lottery funding into sports facility projects over the next five years.

The monies will be dispensed through the new Facility Fund, a scheme based on three strands – single, multi and performance facilities.

Funding will be given to single-sport facilities which seek to increase participation within club structures, multi-sport facilities which seek to increase participation across local communities and performance facilities which meet the needs of community participants and high performance athletes within the same multi-sport environment.

The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) minister for sport Carál Ní Chuilín said: “This funding will deliver facilities across a range of sports, from grassroots through to high performance level, and I very much welcome it. The funding represents a significant investment in local infrastructure and as such it will also help tackle social deprivation and need in communities across the north.

“I encourage governing bodies, sports clubs and other organisations who have viable projects, which meet the sporting needs of communities, clubs and athletes, to engage with Sport Northern Ireland to find out more.

“Sport has an important role to play in our society, not least because of the benefits being active brings in terms of general health and wellbeing, regardless of background or the level of ability.”

Sport Northern Ireland conducted a series of consultation events across Northern Ireland to engage with a wide range of stakeholders on the future direction of its Corporate Plan and future capital investment needs, with the aim of meeting the requirements of stakeholders within the sporting community.