Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 September 2022
480. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the mechanism that will be used to roll out further pop-up swimming pools; and the way that communities and schools can apply for funding for same. [42482/22]
View answerIn December 2021, Swim Ireland was allocated a grant of €395,000 under the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme via the Sport Ireland Targeted Equipment Scheme 2021 towards their
Portable Pool programme. This funding has been fully drawn down and I am pleased to note that Swim Ireland's pop-up pool programme has already received positive feedback in respect of the locations at which the pool has been deployed to date. It should be noted however, that all operational arrangements in relation to this pop-up pool are entirely a matter for Swim Ireland.
In terms of future public swimming pool provision and access, 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 met including the role that pop-up pool facilities may have. A working group has been established to assist in the development of this strategy and it met for the first time on 19 July 2022. It is expected that this Strategy will consider all potential ways to increase access to swimming facilities. The Strategy will be fully considered to ensure that as many people as possible have easy and convenient access to swimming facilities in the years ahead.
