Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We need to see local authorities deliver more swimming opportunities for local communities. That is why we also have to look at different models of delivering that infrastructure. There has been a reluctance amongst local authorities to build the traditional leisure centre model and that is why the pop-up pools have been an enormous success. They have been in Donabate and in west Wicklow. There is one in Tubbercurry in Sligo presently.

Swim Ireland is looking at new models and ways to partner with communities and with local authorities on delivering new types of infrastructure which deliver the participation benefit and deliver the community benefit when it comes to the deficit of infrastructure that is there. That model is being assessed. It is obviously being piloted currently. They are partnerships between local authorities, communities and Swim Ireland, with the State purchasing some of the pop-up pools as well. That is an example that I would encourage local authorities to examine and assess where there is a deficit of infrastructure. The feedback has been extremely positive in communities that have had the pop-up pools.

There are additional examples, beyond pop-up pools, in terms of above-ground modular examples which we are exploring with Swim Ireland which are more cost-effective but deliver the participation benefit. That is all part of the national swimming strategy that we are examining, as I say, looking at different capital types which will deliver the capital benefit when it comes to swimming pools.

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