Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 February 2023
266. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the date on which the next Local Authority Swimming Pool Grant Programme application process will commence; the amount granted to County Kildare in respect of the scheme in the last round by location. [8415/23]
View answer267. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if he will provide an update on the large-scale sport infrastructure fund grant in respect of the delivery of a swimming pool to the north County Kildare. [8419/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 266 and 267 together.
In relation to my Department's responsibilities, capital funding for new swimming pools or the refurbishment of existing pools was previously provided through the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme (LASPP). 52 pools have been completed under the LASPP and three swimming pool projects (Lucan, Buncrana and Edenderry) remain in the programme with the Lucan project currently under construction. Two pools in Kildare received funding under the programme previously, namely Athy and Naas, with both projects complete in 2009.
My Department's capital support for any 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 over the period to 2027. The first call for proposals under the LSSIF closed in 2019 with applications confined to local authorities and National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of Sport. The first allocations were announced in January 2020 and thus far, approximately €86.4 million has been awarded to 33 different proposals including 8 swimming pool projects. Full details of all allocations are available at:- www.gov.ie/en/service/4113b3-large-scale-sport-infrastructure-fund-lssif/
An application was received from Kildare County Council for design funding towards a new swimming pool at the Maynooth campus with €1 million sought. The total funding applied for under the scheme significantly exceeded the amount available to allocate and the swimming pool project in Maynooth did not score sufficiently highly to be awarded a grant.
All unsuccessful applicants were given the opportunity to appeal the Department’s decision if it was felt than an error was made in the assessment process and an appeal was received from Kildare County Council. All appeals have now been assessed by officials who were not involved in the initial assessment process and no errors were found which warranted an automatic grant.
While the priority in the short term is to advance the projects that were already allocated funding, a review of the LSSIF Programme is underway. My Department has now met with all successful grantees and work is at an advanced stage in drafting the review. I expect this work to be finalised shortly. As part of that review, the Department is examining, inter alia, progress on all projects awarded funding to date, whether there is any scope to award additional grants and whether there should be a new call for proposals.
Furthermore, work has advanced on the development of the first National Swimming Strategy based on a vision to ‘provide everyone in Ireland with an opportunity to swim’. The Working Group tasked with the detailed work of preparing the strategy is chaired by my Department and comprises representatives from relevant NGBs and stakeholders. An extensive consultation process has been undertaken across both stakeholders and the public and work is ongoing on the analysis of the very large number of responses received to ensure that the Strategy encompasses all of the issues raised to the greatest extent possible. It is hoped to finalise the new Strategy in the coming months and it will further guide future swimming pool investment policy.
