John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

The maximum grant that can be allocated for a swimming pool is €3.8 million and this does not provide the dry facilities. The problem is that there are not enough resources to go around. When facilities are being put in place, local authorities must come up with funding and if they want dry facilities they must provide them themselves. The only other vehicle for dry facilities at present is the sports capital programme.

One of the main difficulties I have experienced in the Department in recent years is that each year the demands on funds increase. This is not just due to inflation but to the fact that people's requirements are greater. Where a club was satisfied with £10,000 in 1990, today €100,000 would be the minimum demand and often clubs come looking for €1 million. The sports capital programme simply cannot sustain that sort of demand. In the same way the swimming pool programme cannot sustain the demand upon it. In any swimming pool programme that comes forward it must be ensured there is a co-operative arrangement whereby local authorities will bear a portion of the burden. Otherwise we will not be able to provide any facilities. It will not be possible for me or any future Minister to include the dry facilities with the swimming pool because of lack of resources.

See this speech in context