Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are only two municipal swimming pools in County Kildare, in Athy and Naas, serving a population of 210,000. The north Kildare towns of Leixlip, Celbridge, Maynooth and Kilcock have a combined population of some 60,000 and have become dependent on the very old pool on the NUI Maynooth campus. Some 800 children will be directly affected by the closure, having been told their classes will finish at the end of August. The area has a very large young population.

As Deputy Durkan indicated, the three local Deputies have met with the college president to discuss the two main issues that arise out of the decision to close the college pool. The first issue is the need to put in place a municipal pool and the second is the short-term response that is required in terms of retaining the facility at the university. The president told us the university has no obligation to provide a public pool, that responsibility being one for the Government and the local authority. The primary purpose of the college, he noted, is one of education. The president indicated that the cost of the works required to restore the pool to the required condition, which include improvements to air-handling and the fabric of the pool, would be some €350,000. In the meantime, he said, the college is losing money on operational costs.

The most important outcome of our meeting with the president, however, was his clear indication that the college does not want the risk of managing even an upgraded facility. In other words, it is not seeking the money needed to upgrade the pool. That is not the issue. The best we can hope for is that the college authorities might postpone the decision to close it. The e-mail to which Deputy Durkan referred, which was sent today, states that it is simply not possible for the college to reverse the decision to close the pool unless there is agreement on a joint development with Kildare County Council of a swimming pool that meets the needs of the university and the community, in which case the college authorities would be willing to examine any viable case to reopen the pool at Maynooth on an interim basis.

This situation arose as a result of the closure of the swimming pool fund in 2000, with no prospect of its being reopened. There is a real need for action in this regard in north Kildare.

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