(Dublin) asked the Minister for Education if in view of the recent drownings of children in the Grand Canal arrangements will be made with the schools in the area to have special instructions given pointing out the dangers of playing on the canal banks.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Grand Canal Tragedies.
35.
Mr. O'Malley
It is usual for teachers in national schools to warn children about local hazards to life and health and I feel confident that the teachers in the schools in the area in question are not failing in this respect. I shall arrange, however, to have this specific matter brought to the attention of the teachers concerned.
The Minister does not advert to the fact that the very probable cause of this matter is the absence of reasonable swimming pools for children in the city area. Will the Minister consult with his colleagues in the Cabinet with a view to having such swimming pools erected so that a more strict attitude might be adopted with regard to young children who approach the canal banks?
Mr. O'Malley
That is what we want: we want scores of those pools.
I can understand the Minister's priorities frequently getting mixed up. I can only regret the drownings which have been referred to and ask him to realise that the presence of the canals and the absence of available swimming pools constitute a standing hazard to young children who, and not unnaturally, desire to swim and go to the canals to swim when they have nowhere else to go.