Seán Barrett
Ceist:11 Mr. Barrett asked the Minister for Defence the plans, if any, he has to re-open the swimming pool in the Curragh Camp, County Kildare. [17632/98]
Other Questions. - Curragh Camp Swimming Pool.
Alan Shatter
Ceist:17 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Defence the plans, if any, he has to re-open the swimming pool in the Curragh Camp, County Kildare. [17627/98]
Richard Bruton
Ceist:22 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Defence the plans, if any, he has to re-open the swimming pool in the Curragh Camp, County Kildare. [17624/98]
Michael Joe Cosgrave
Ceist:35 Mr. Cosgrave asked the Minister for Defence the plans, if any, he has to re-open the swimming pool in the Curragh Camp, County Kildare. [17625/98]
Jim Mitchell
Ceist:42 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Defence the plans, if any, he has to re-open the swimming pool in the Curragh Camp, County Kildare. [17622/98]
Gay Mitchell
Ceist:43 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Defence the plans, if any, he has to re-open the swimming pool in the Curragh Camp, County Kildare. [17628/98]
Nora Owen
Ceist:54 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Defence the plans, if any, he has to re-open the swimming pool in the Curragh Camp, County Kildare. [17623/98]
Austin Currie
Ceist:105 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Defence the plans, if any, he has to re-open the swimming pool in the Curragh Camp, County Kildare. [17630/98]
Alan M. Dukes
Ceist:113 Mr. Dukes asked the Minister for Defence the plans, if any, he has to re-open the swimming pool in the Curragh Camp, County Kildare. [17621/98]
Monica Barnes
Ceist:117 Mrs. Barnes asked the Minister for Defence the plans, if any, he has to re-open the swimming pool in the Curragh Camp, County Kildare. [17631/98]
Ceist:
121 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for Defence the plans, if any, he has to re-open the swimming pool in the Curragh Camp, County Kildare. [17629/98]
Olivia Mitchell
Ceist:124 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Defence the plans, if any, he has to re-open the swimming pool in the Curragh Camp, County Kildare. [17626/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 11, 17, 22, 35, 42, 43, 54, 105, 113, 117, 121 and 124 together.
A report which was commissioned from consultants to establish the condition of the Curragh swimming pool has been considered by my Department in conjunction with the Corps of Engineers. The report identified the problem areas associated with the existing facilities and recommended closure of the pool. Major refurbishment of the pool will be needed to remedy the deficiencies and to bring it into line with modern standards. The process of drawing up the technical documents on which the eventual works contract will be based is now in progress. Because of the specialist nature of the facilities the engagement of external technical expertise will be necessary and steps are being taken to secure that assistance.
The necessary funding is available and it is my intention that the necessary works will proceed as quickly as possible.
Can the Minister give us some idea of the timeframe he has in mind? I understand the technical documents need to be drawn up with some care but I and a great many other people would like to know the type of time period the Minister has in mind.
At the Estimates meeting in the Department of Defence, the Minister gave a commitment that he would provide funding for the refurbishment of the pool. A concern expressed to me by numerous schools is that if the pool is refurbished, the number of schools using it would not be the same as in the past. I ask the Minister to give a guarantee to the House that all the schools in the locality wishing to use that facility will be able to do so in the future.
I have not felt under as much pressure in regard to any project from my colleagues in the House, Deputies Dukes, Wall, Power and the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy.
Did he take the plunge?
Who pulled the plug on the pool?
Funding is not a problem and we are making provision for that. It appears that the cost will be somewhere in the region of £2 million. All of the public facilities available in the country to different organisations should be open, as far as possible, to the wider community because it is the taxpayers who put them there. Members should not have any doubt about my insistence that what has been the tradition will continue and be improved.
It is a cause of some alarm to me that we do not have the in-house engineering capacity to do this ourselves and that we have to engage outside consultants. I was alarmed to learn there are not many opportunities in that area. I had the option earlier to do a "fix job" but for safety and other reasons I ruled that out. I hope to have designs and planning for this project completed by the end of this year. It will probably be an eight or nine month contract after that and no time can be lost. I know the public is disappointed but the closure had to be done for safety reasons. I am under pressure from many fronts on this matter.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.