Vol. 432 No. 7
81 Mr. Connor asked the Minister for the Environment if he has received an application for grant assistance to construct a new swimming pool in Ballaghaderreen, County Roscommon; if he will concede to the request for this grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Under my Department's funding arrangements for swimming pools, a grant of up to 80 per cent of the approved cost of providing a pool may be paid. Where a pool is being provided by a voluntary organisation, application for a grant must be made to the local authority in the first instance and the proposal will only be considered by my Department if it is supported by the local authority. Before supporting an application, the local authority would have to be satisfied that the pool was needed, that the proposed pool would meet the Department's technical specification, that the balance of funding required to complete the project was available, that the pool could be operated on a viable basis and that there would be a satisfactory level of public access to it.
I have received some inquiries about grant assistance for the provision of a swimming pool at Ballaghaderreen on behalf of the Ballaghaderreen Swimming Pool Committee but no formal application has been submitted so far. Having regard to the limited capital funding available for the provision and refurbishment of swimming pools, and the number of projects currently before my Department awaiting approval, it would be some considerable time before I would be in a position to give a decision on any such application.
