John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

A provision of €15 million has been made in my Department's Estimates for this year to meet costs associated with the local authority swimming pool programme. This provision represents an increase of 67% on the provision for 2003. So far this year, I have approved grant aid to projects located in Tuam, County Galway, Churchfield in Cork city and Ballymun in Dublin. The likely grant drawdown for these three new projects, when added to commitments from previous years, is expected to come to some €12 million in 2004. There are a number of other projects at an advanced stage in the process and under consideration in my Department. However, the Deputy will appreciate from the figures mentioned above that there is limited scope for further significant expenditure under the scheme this year.

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