Vol. 571 No. 1
779 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the status of an application for funding from Kilkenny Borough Council for the provision of a new swimming pool for Kilkenny city; the number of such projects sanctioned to date elsewhere in the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20456/03]
Under the local authority swimming pool programme, which is administered by my Department, there are four stages in a swimming pool project, following the submission of a feasibility study. These, in order of progress, are preliminary report, contract documents, tender and construction. My Department's technical advisers, the Office of Public Works, evaluate each stage and local authorities cannot proceed to the next stage of a project unless prior approval issues from my Department. Grant aid is allocated when tenders have been approved for a project and is capped at the time of allocation.
Kilkenny Borough Council applied for funding under the programme in respect of a proposed replacement swimming pool for Kilkenny and the Department's technical advisers found the preliminary report to be satisfactory. However, it is understood that Kilkenny Borough Council is now considering an alternative site to that originally proposed and a revised proposal is expected shortly.
Since the launch of the revamped local authority swimming pool programme in 1999, 12 projects have been approved for grant aid. During 2003, funding has been approved for three projects which are currently under construction-refurbishment at Tralee, Limerick and Clonmel.
