John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

I have the greatest sympathy for the people of Lucan. I regret the fact that no application arrived in respect of Lucan from South Dublin County Council prior to the deadline on 31 July 2000. This deadline was well advertised and everyone knew about it. We received a considerable number of applications from all around the country, including the Dublin region. In 2002, in response to a query about a possible project in Lucan, the following advice was given.

Any guidelines in relation to the involvement of local authorities in a public private partnership approach to the procurement of swimming pools will be finalised in the context of launching a new programme. Local authorities will be notified by this Department when the new programme is initiated.

However, no such new programme was launched. The reality is that we have several applications on hand at various stages, from preliminary report stage right up to tender stage. We received no application from Lucan prior to the closing date of 31 July 2000. Had we received an application from Lucan, it would have received the priority which it unquestionably deserved. The difficulty is that we do not have a new swimming pool programme at this point. When a new programme is launched, we will advertise for it in the same manner in which we advertised on the previous occasion.

I do not understand why there was no application from Lucan, but I do not think that Deputy Gogarty is so unreasonable as to blame me or my Department for the failure to put in an application on behalf of the people of Lucan.

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