The case for Castlebar swimming pool has been well made. The pool is one of a number built in the seventies and early eighties and both the pools and the machinery are outdated. The Castlebar pool is a basic swimming facility and to repair the plant would be to throw good money after bad. As the Minister of State is aware, Castlebar is the county town of Mayo and has a large catchment area. The swimming pool requires immediate refurbishment and I ask the Minister of State to move the project forward. I understand the contract document are with the Department and I urge that they be approved speedily. I thank the Minister of State for the efficient and expeditious way in which he has dealt with this matter in the past.
Adjournment Matters. - Castlebar (Mayo) Swimming Pool.
I thank the Senator for raising this issue. Mayo County Council submitted detailed drawings and specifications to the Department of the Environment on 2 September 1996 for major refurbishment works, estimated to cost £1.7 million, at the Castlebar pool. These works include major repairs to the general fabric of the building, replacement of the mechanical, heating and electrical services and the upgrading of the water filtration and disinfection systems. The proposed works also include a number of new facilities, including a learners' pool, a sauna and a multi-purpose room. Additional information requested by the Department in relation to the electrical services has been received from the county council and the contract documents are currently being examined by the Department.
There is a provision of £3.5 million in the Department's Estimates for 1997 for the swimming pool programme. While this represents a significant increase on the 1996 provision of £2 million, the increased allocation for 1997 will have to meet expenditure on projects already under construction or projects fully approved and on which work is expected to start in 1997. Accordingly, the scope available to release new projects in 1997 will remain limited.
In allocating funds to particular projects, regard must be had to the capital costs of such projects in the context of the overall capital funds available for the programme. New pools cost over £2 million and major refurbishment works to existing facilities can cost over £1 million. Each project must be considered in the context of the competing demands of other local authority projects for the limited funds available and their cases can be equally compelling. Having regard to all these factors, it is not possible to say at this stage when a firm financial commitment can be given to the funding of the proposed works at the Castlebar pool.
I thank Minister of State for his reply. I would again emphasise the urgency of the case given that Castlebar is the county town and has a large catchment area.
I understand the Senator's concern. As Minister of State with responsibility for sport and youth affairs I understand the demands from communities around the country. The strategy report prepared by Mr. John Treacy, which I received this afternoon, deals with the development of facilities at national, regional and local level. I hope to publish the report in January. It will set out medium and long-term proposals for the development of facilities as well as the development of coaching and the role of sport in education between now and the year 2000; there will also be longer term proposals to the year 2006. The provision of swimming facilities will form part of the programme.
Acting Chairman
I wish the Minister good luck with the proposals.
The Seanad adjourned at 7.25 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 19 December 1996.