Under the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme grant aid to a maximum of €3.8 million is provided to local authorities towards the capital costs of new swimming pools or the refurbishment of existing pools. The document "Procedures for the Planning, Approval and Financing of Swimming Pools and Technical Guidelines" was published by the then Department of the Environment and Local Government in January 1998 and is available from my Department. A copy will be forwarded to the Deputy for her information. The current round of the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme was closed to new applicants on 31 July 2000. Since 2000, 58 projects have or are being dealt with under the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme of which 50 have been completed and the other 8 projects are at various stages of the Programme. The procedures mentioned above are applied for these projects.
I wish to commence the process of opening a new limited round of swimming pool allocations and I have asked my departmental officials to report back to me on this proposal as soon as possible.