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Swimming Pools

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 May 2022

Thursday, 5 May 2022

Questions (14, 15)

David Stanton

Question:

14. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the way her Department supports public swimming pools in order to assist them in remaining financially viable; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22089/22]

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Neale Richmond

Question:

15. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the steps she is taking to develop and support local swimming pools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22138/22]

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Oral answers (6 contributions)

We all do our best to support sport and sports facilities in our communities. One sport that is not just an activity but a life skill is swimming. I ask the Minister of State to update the House on supports for the development of new and existing swimming pools.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 15 together.

In response to the fallout caused by Covid-19, my Department provided funding of €2.5 million in 2020 to support those responsible for publicly accessible swimming pools in responding to the challenge associated with maintaining such pools and the effort to reopen within Covid-19 safety protocols. An additional €3.2 million was also provided in 2021 for this purpose, which is a further acknowledgement of the importance of the sector and the impact swimming has on the nation’s health. The funding was administered by Ireland Active on behalf of Sport Ireland and it supported 280 pools throughout the country. The day-to-day financial management of these public utilities is normally a matter for the operators of the facilities themselves. Capital funding for new swimming pools or the refurbishment of existing pools was previously provided through the local authority swimming pool programme, LASPP. A total of 52 pools have been completed under the LASPP. Three swimming pool projects, namely, those in Lucan, Buncrana and Edenderry, remain in the programme, with the Lucan project currently under construction.

My Department's capital support for new swimming pools is now being provided through the large scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF. The national development plan provided a capital allocation of at least €100 million for the fund to 2027. The first call for proposals under the fund was made in 2019, with applications confined to local authorities and sports national governing bodies. All applications were assessed in accordance with the evaluation procedures. Thus far, €86.4 million has been awarded to 33 projects. These initial allocations include funding for eight swimming pool projects. The priority in the short term is to advance all these projects, including the swimming pools, to construction stage.

Regarding future capital funding for pools, we are undertaking a review of progress on all existing LSSIF grants. As part of this review, my Department is also considering the timing of any new call for proposals. Turning to future policy, the national sports policy commits to the development of a national swimming strategy. As part of this, there will be a review of swimming pool provision to identify where gaps exist and how these can be addressed. Furthermore, the Sports Action Plan 2021-2023, which I published last November, contains an action to develop and implement a national swimming strategy to provide additional swimming opportunities indoors and outdoors. Initial preparatory planning work has been undertaken by my Department in this regard. It is intended to establish a working group in the near future to advance the detailed work of preparing a national swimming strategy, with a view to its completion and publication later this year.

I appreciate the Minister of State's reply and acknowledge the good work that has been done. He will accept, however, that while excellent calls have been published and funding has been drawn down, several projects are still simply caught in the process. I have deep knowledge of two such local projects in my constituency, including one of the pools in which I learned to swim. That was the infamous Glenalbyn swimming pool in Stillorgan, which has still not been redeveloped. The finance is in place and planning permission has been secured but agreement has not been reached between the local authority and the GAA. I call on the Minister of State to use his offices to intervene to get this situation resolved speedily. Generations of young children in that area have not had access to learn to swim in a public facility. The situation is the same just up the road in the Samuel Beckett Civic Campus. Planning permission has been obtained for the swimming pool and funding has been secured, but the project has still not gone to tender and construction has not started. The knock-on effect is that I and many dozens of other parents will spend three or four hours queueing to sign our children up for swimming lessons when those become available.

I thank the Deputy. Perhaps I can revert to him regarding the progress being made on these specific projects. I do know the Samuel Beckett Civic Campus project has an allocation of €5 million. We can provide an update on that project directly to Deputy Richmond. I agree, though, that there is a broader demand which must be met. Part of the national swimming strategy and our work with Swim Ireland will involve determining how we can identify new ways to develop facilities and infrastructure in communities. We can continue to build projects that cost tens of millions of euro, such as many of the projects listed under the auspices of the LSSIF. New ways of building infrastructure, however, can also deliver outcomes in respect of providing swimming lessons and facilities to local communities. There are new and innovative ways to provide more facilities in communities at a lower cost. We are working this approach through in the national swimming strategy and exploring new and innovative ways to deliver more swimming pool infrastructure. That is the work we are doing this year.

I would appreciate that involvement because there are so many swimming pools. Considering population growth, especially in my community, and factoring in the number of planning permission applications approved in the context of that expected growth, we can see there is going to be increased demand for what is an already oversubscribed swimming pool system. We not only need the two pools I mentioned to be refurbished and the new pool, but also more pools to service the community.

More pertinently, regarding the development of existing swimming pools, I must raise a matter about which concern has been expressed several times to my office. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the reopening of our pools and the restructuring of lessons, there has been a slip-up in providing swimming facilities for those with additional needs. That is particularly the case for younger people with special needs in respect of having access to swimming pools for particular lessons and swimming and pool therapies. This is an issue that should shape the Swim Ireland strategy. We should be ensuring that learning to swim and to use the water correctly and enjoying that is something for all in our society.

I agree. Part of what we fund every year, through funds from dormant accounts, and what we are trying to do in the context of our Sport for All approach is ensure that there is inclusion across all sports, including swimming. All providers should be continuing or strengthening what they were doing prior to the onset of Covid-19, especially for people with disabilities. They should be ensuring that all activities are provided in an inclusive way. A key part of the national sports policy and the sports action plan, as I said, is to develop a new swimming strategy. As Deputy Richmond said, swimming is a vital life skill and one we have an increasing demand for in the context of the younger demographics of our population. It is a life skill that allows people to participate and be active in an activity from a young age all the way through to and then during retirement. We are cognisant of the need to ensure we have ongoing development of swimming pool infrastructure, as well as ensuring that is provided in an inclusive and affordable way. We will work this through with the Deputy and others. We are keen to ensure that we deliver a national swimming strategy this year and we are working that through with Swim Ireland.

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