Swimming Pool Projects

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 February 2013

Tuesday, 19 February 2013

Questions (103)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

103. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will confirm when funding for a new round of applications under the local authority swimming pool programme will be put in place; if he will provide a list of successful applications under the programme broken down by local authority from 2005 until the suspension of the grant assistance; if he will confirm if the use it or lose it element of the grant aid remains in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8732/13]

Oral answers (7 contributions)

Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport (Deputy Michael Ring)

Under the current round of the local authority swimming pool programme, grant aid to a maximum of €3.8 million is provided to local authorities towards the capital cost of new swimming pools or the refurbishment of existing pools. So far, 47 projects have been completed and 11 other projects are at various stages of development.

The current round of the programme was closed to new applicants on 31 July 2000. No decision has been taken on the timing of a new round of the programme. It is incorrect to say that funding for swimming pools has been suspended. Last year, €7.7 million was paid out in respect of swimming pools and €5.6 million is available this year, all of which is expected to be paid out to grantees.

Since 2005, three projects have been added to the list of pools under the programme. In 2005 €3.8 million was allocated where a local authority swimming pool in Monaghan had to close for safety reasons, and Monaghan was the only county in the country without a local authority pool. In 2006, a special Estimates allocation of €300,000 was made by the Minister for Finance towards the refurbishment of the swimming pool at St Joseph's School for Deaf Boys in Dublin, and in 2010 the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport approved a grant of €648,000 towards the refurbishment of the de Paul Swimming Pool, operated by the Daughters of Charity, in Dublin. This grant was subsequently increased to €948,000.  The latter two pools are in the Dublin City Council area. 

On the possible withdrawal of grants, I am conscious that local authorities, like all other organisations, have been facing financial difficulties in recent years and my Department is trying to afford them every opportunity to draw down this funding, within the terms and conditions of the programme.  Of course these grants cannot remain open indefinitely and I would urge the relevant local authorities to progress their projects as quickly as possible.

Deputy Catherine Murphy

The last time I asked a similar question I got a very different answer, that the Department was conducting a review, some local authorities would not be able to come up with matching funding and the Department was to talk to those local authorities with a view to closing it off so that the Department could open up the programme to local authorities which might be able to come up with the matching funding.

In 2000, when the scheme was opened up, each local authority was told that it could nominate no more than two locations. There were at least four locations - south Dublin, Wexford, Wicklow and Kerry - which put in for four. To the best of my knowledge, four have been built in three of those four locations. Five or six locations got three pools. Kildare, foolishly, put in for two.

When the review was done in 2007, there was a comparison made with Northern Ireland and Scotland. Northern Ireland has one pool for every 32,000 of population, Scotland has one for every 15,000 of population and the aim in Ireland was to get one for every 58,000 of population.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Frame a question.

Deputy Catherine Murphy

Is that still a commitment? Is that still an aim? I am being parochial about this. Kildare has one pool for every 105,000 of population, which is more than double the target. Is there any prospect of funding becoming available for such a location, where there is a population that is large enough to support a pool and where it would be financially viable? Will the Minister of State insist on a use-or-lose-it clause at any point in the case of local authorities that cannot come up with the matching funding?

Deputy Michael Ring

I accept Deputy Catherine Murphy's frustration in the question she asked. It is a long time since these grants were allocated in 2000. Some of the local authorities have approached us because it is taking a long time. Matching funding is difficult to get at present. There are also technical difficulties. At the same time, I have written to the local authorities. It is something I must look at because we cannot continue where there are places, such the Deputy's area, that are looking for a pool.

As I stated in my reply, we had 58 projects, 47 are completed and 11 are still outstanding. At some stage I must make a decision and state that they will get a short time period to draw down the funds or we must close them down. Then I will have to see what I can do to allow others make applications for a new scheme.

There is not a great rush. The only local authority looking for funding for a swimming pool is the Deputy's local authority in the case of her area. There are some local authorities that even tell me they do not want to go ahead with the project and some of them have withdrawn on the basis that they cannot come up with the matching funding.

Deputy Catherine Murphy

If applications are being withdrawn and there is not a rush, why is the Minister of State not providing for a location where there is a site, where there is a demand and where the running of a pool would be viable? The people in my area ask me where is their swimming pool and I tend to tell them it is in south Dublin, Wicklow or Kerry. Certainly, it is not where they want it to be.

Deputy Michael Ring

The local authorities' big problem, the complaint with which they came to me and with which I dealt for some of them last year related to heating pools and making them wheelchair accessible. In that regard, I introduced a scheme last year and we allocated funding to 56 pools. It was for a number of pools throughout the country in financial difficulty because the local authority could not heat them and because of the energy wastage involved. In my opinion, it was the best scheme I introduced in the Department since I came into office. I visited Sligo, Ballina, Donegal and Galway.

Every one of them tells me that but for the grant aid that we provided to upgrade their energy efficiency and make them wheelchair accessible many of these pools would have closed. The big problem we have is with the existing pools - they are not able to run them or fund them. The fuel prices are creating great difficulty in heating them. Regarding the scheme, I will need to put pressure on the remaining local authorities to either get in or get out. I will then have to see if I can find some funding to allow in some other counties with a need for swimming pools.