Vol. 513 No. 5
10 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation when proposals for the national 50 metre swimming pool, which is to be built in Limerick, will be invited; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2753/00]
The Government, in line with the commitment given in the joint programme, An Action Plan for the Millennium, decided in November 1997 to initiate a tender procedure inviting proposals for the design, financing, construction and management of a national 50 metre swimming pool. This tender procedure, which was conducted in accordance with EU Council Directive 93/37/EEC, concerning the co-ordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, culminated in July last year with the selection of a proposal submitted by the University of Limerick to develop a 50 metre swimming pool on their campus.
The university's proposal is based on receiving a capital grant of £5.95 million and an operational subsidy of £190,000 per annum for 20 years. The swimming pool will form part of the university's multi-purpose sports building project which is currently under construction and is located close to the National Coaching and Training Centre. My Department is currently finalising contractual details with the university who anticipate that the pool will be operational by October 2000.
I thank the Minister for his reply. At the weekend, I was amazed to hear that a 50 metre pool will be part of the national stadium complex. Is it proposed to have two 50 metre swimming pools? Was a 50 metre pool mentioned in the feasibility study for the national stadium? Why was this announcement made so suddenly? Was it an effort to sweeten the pill for the public, many of whom see the national stadium project as a white elephant? What is happening? Are we to have two 50 metre swimming pools? Why is the second one suddenly being located in Dublin?
There has been a dearth of sporting infrastructure in the past because we were not in the same economic position as we are now. If I had my way, I would have four 50 metre pools, one in every province because swimming is a sport which can be enjoyed by many people. I accept that one does not need 50 metre pools. A feasibility study for another 50 metre pool in Dublin will be commissioned this week or next week. As the Deputy knows, our elite athletes need a 50 metre pool to train adequately.
There has been a demand for such a pool for years. The Limerick pool is a training pool but there is no pool in the State in which international swimming competitions could take place. Ireland is to host the 2003 Special Olympics and provision for swimming was a problem. We had to make provision for the competition elsewhere in a pool capable of hosting the Special Olympics. I see no harm in having two 50 metre pools but one will be a training pool for elite athletes. That was why it was given the go ahead. The national stadium will cater for all national sporting organisations and swimming has a national organisation. Swimming is the second most popular sport in the State. A feasibility study will be carried out for a pool to prepare for the Special Olympics in 2003.
I am glad the Minister has clarified the position on to the second of the four 50 metre swimming pools he would build if he had the money. It is a disappointment that we could not provide a proper facility in Limerick which would be a competition pool as well as one for training elite athletes.
The elite athletes of the future will not have access to either of the 50 metre pools. Many of them do not have access to a proper swimming pool. What resources is the Minister making available to ensure we create the athletes of the future when swimming pools throughout the State are in a dilapidated state, particularly in the midland counties?
I remind Members that this question refers to a specific swimming pool in Limerick.
During the last Government's term of office, £3 million per year was put into swimming pools. Our research showed that 450,000 people use swimming facilities and, consequently, I approached the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, and received £45 million to put into local authority pools over the next three years. That amounts to £15 million per year. We are responding to the need.
The Limerick pool would not have been capable of holding the Special Olympics swimming events. The Special Olympics must have venues approximate to each other because of the potential language problems arising from the 160 countries participating. All the individual competition venues had to be close to each other, particularly those for swimming. These athletes have certain medical problems which also must be catered for. From that point of view, the competition pool at Limerick, even if it was of competition size, would have been of no value to the special Olympians. We decided that Dublin would be the base for the Special Olympics in 2003 and would need a pool as well.
