Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Usually when Deputies get to their feet in this House, we are looking for resources to be put in place for our constituency. There is the nonsensical situation where access to a swimming pool in a town that locals have used since the establishment of the Garda depot in Templemore in 1965 is now being denied to them. This is nonsensical and makes no sense. Leaving the pool idle for the next few months, as we are told might happen, could result in serious infrastructural work having to be done to it to get it back into use, which would cost hundreds of thousands of euro. The Taoiseach visited my constituency last Friday and met Deirdre Ryan, one of the protagonists seeking to get this decision reversed. He could see no logic in the decision that had been taken.

For generations, locals have used the swimming pool on Friday nights for swimming lessons and instruction in water safety, and it has worked exceptionally well. This is not the first time the depot in Templemore has made a nonsensical decision. A number of years ago, it decided to stop taking supplies from local suppliers, such as meat, milk and vegetables, but that decision is, thankfully, starting to be reversed because it was costing the college money and it was not getting as good a service as it had been getting from the local suppliers. In this case, again, faceless civil servants are making a disastrous decision.

This is seriously damaging the relationship between the local community and the college. There has been a tremendous relationship between the people of Templemore and the surrounding areas with the authorities in the college. At times when the college was oversubscribed and it had too many recruits for the accommodation it had available, locals would take in recruits without hesitation. While there was a financial reward for doing it, it was a great inconvenience for the households that did it, yet they always took in students.

Last Saturday and yesterday in Templemore, public demonstrations were held. On Saturday, there was a large crowd, with many children who cannot understand why this pool, which their brothers and sisters once used to learn the art of swimming, is not being opened to them. We are told it is because of energy costs, but no one made any representation to get additional funding to cover the increased costs of energy. No one went looking for it from the Department.

The Taoiseach gave us a commitment on Friday that this nonsensical decision would be reversed. I call on the Minister of State to get the OPW and the authorities at the college to knock their heads together and give access to the college to the local area in the way that has always been the case since 1965. I cannot overstress the annoyance of people in the area in regard to this. I am often in the House on my feet looking for millions of euro for this or that in Tipperary. This time around, all I am asking is that the access that has been allowed to this pool since 1965 be allowed to continue. Surely that is not too much to ask. The local community in Templemore have always done everything they can to help the college prosper. The decision makes no sense.

I might highlight another issue that arose recently in the college. If senior Garda representatives come to the college on business, they now have to park in a car park a couple of hundred yards away from the depot. They are not allowed access to park their cars - again completely illogical. Someone who is in charge at the depot in Templemore has no common sense, and I want the relevant Minister to drive that point home.

See this speech in context