As reported last week, none of the money, announced in 2000 as part of a 750m investment, had been spent by Northern Ireland. But all that is set to change, with the approval of just over 200 projects worth around 500,000.
The amount of cash may seem relatively small, but the majority of schemes will be used to improve facilities in small rural primary schools, said NOF Northern Ireland director Walter Rader.
"This mirrors Department of Education findings that 46 per cent of primary schools have insufficient physical activity facilities. More than 60 per cent of the approved projects feature primary schools and we're delighted about that," he said. Projects include drainage of waterlogged pitches, often unusable for part of the year, better playground markings, and the building of storerooms in order to free up indoor space for physical activity.
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